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UN report warns that India has become a global hotspot for methane emissions driven by stubble burning.
India is now the world’s third-largest methane emitter, responsible for nearly 9% of global emissions.
National statement at COP30 omits any reference to methane, despite rising emissions from agriculture and waste burning.
India has emerged as a global hotspot for methane emissions from crop-residue burning, according to a United Nations report released on November 17, 2025 at 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Belem, Brazil. Stubble burning, already identified as a major driver of toxic air pollution across northern India, is now flagged as a major climate threat and experts say curbing it would deliver a “win-win” for both public health and the climate.
The report, produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), finds that India is the world’s third-largest methane emitter after China and the United States, producing around 31 million tonnes a year. “The G20 group of countries, including India, emits 65 per cent of global emissions,” an UNEP expert told this correspondent. Globally, annual methane emissions currently stand at 360 million tonnes.
Although the report warns that methane levels continue to rise, it expresses some hope that emissions could begin to fall by 2030. “Reducing methane emissions is one of the most immediate and effective steps we can take to slow the climate crisis … [it] also reduces crop losses, essential for both agriculture productivity and food security,” said Inger Andersen, UN under-secretary-general and UNEP’s executive director.
The UN analysis, along with assessments by research organisations like Climate Trends and Climate Analytics accessed by this correspondent, shows that India’s largest sources of methane are livestock, through enteric fermentation and manure, and rice cultivation. But emissions from crop-residue burning have become a major and growing hotspot, bucking global trends.
“India is associated with waste-management challenges that can … raise methane emissions,” the report noted. It showed that methane emissions from waste burning in India rose from 4.5 million tonnes in 1995 to 7.4 million tonnes in 2020, a 64 per cent increase. Over the same period, global emissions from waste burning increased by 43 per cent, from 56 million tonnes to 80 million tonnes.
In 2020, India generated an estimated 20 million tonnes of methane from agriculture and 4.5 million tonnes from the energy sector.
“The new evidence reconfirms the importance of co-benefits from controlling stubble burning in our states,” said Anumita Roychoudhury, an air-pollution expert at the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). “This episodic pollution from seasonal farm fires not only increases heat-trapping methane gas and contributes to warming but also co-emits harmful tiny particles and other toxins that harm our health.”
She said a focused programme across all affected states is needed to mitigate both air-pollution and climate impacts.
The report stated that “India emitted about 31 Mt of methane in 2020, accounting for 9 percent of global emissions”, and that agricultural methane alone accounts for 12 per cent of global agricultural emissions, which is among the highest shares worldwide. Methane from rice cultivation in India is projected to rise by 8 per cent between 2020 and 2030.
However, the UN assessment claimed that “India does not identify actions to reduce emissions from its largest methane source (agriculture) in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)”.
India’s national statement at COP30, delivered on November 17, 2025 by Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav, made no mention of methane. India has long pushed back against pressure from developed nations to undertake mitigation in its agricultural sector, arguing instead for a focus on adaptation.
The report has also identified 11 active global programmes aimed at reducing methane emissions.