What happened in this Energy story?

Turkmenistan, the world's worst methane mega-leaker, has begun repairing corroded pipes, faulty wells, and failing flares that had been venting enormous plumes of the potent greenhouse gas, marking the first documented mitigation action in a country long shrouded in secrecy.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Turkmenistan** has plugged 8 methane mega-leaks since November 2024, fixing corroded pipes, faulty wells, and failing flares at its ageing oil and gas facilities—the UN Mars programme called it an "incredible first step" but said overall emissions remain vast.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

The **UN Methane Alert and Response System (Mars)** sent 192 alerts to Turkmenistan in the past year; the country responded to about 20% with on-the-ground information and potential fix plans, with the UN saying the response rate is growing month by month.

Turkmenistan Plugs 8 Methane Mega-Leaks — SkimNews

By The Guardian Environment · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-08-31

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Turkmenistan has plugged 8 methane mega-leaks since November 2024, fixing corroded pipes, faulty wells, and failing flares at its ageing oil and gas facilities—the UN Mars programme called it an "incredible first step" but said overall emissions remain vast.
The UN Methane Alert and Response System (Mars) sent 192 alerts to Turkmenistan in the past year; the country responded to about 20% with on-the-ground information and potential fix plans, with the UN saying the response rate is growing month by month.
The United States received 138 Mars alerts—the second-highest tally globally—but responded to none and fixed no leaks in the last year, a stark contrast to Turkmenistan; Iran, Russia, and China also failed to respond to any alerts.
The worst single methane leak detected worldwide sits in Mexico's offshore oil and gas industry at 37 tonnes per hour—equivalent to emissions from more than 7 million SUVs—though Mexico has answered all 23 of its alerts without yet completing a fix.
Kazakhstan has also sealed 8 leaks, while Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina maintain 100% response rates to Mars alerts; in Algeria, a major leak that had run for nearly 40 years from a faulty flare was finally stemmed.
Guardian investigations in 2023 found Turkmenistan's two main fossil fuel fields' methane emissions alone caused more global heating in 2022 than the UK's entire annual carbon output—a disclosure that sources say pushed the secretive government to engage with the UN and join the Global Methane Pledge in December 2023.
In total, Mars alerts have led to 43 leaks being sealed worldwide since the system began, using AI to analyze data from more than a dozen satellites; UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called on all countries to respond to at least 80% of alerts.

Why it matters: Turkmenistan's engagement validates the UN's satellite-based accountability model—43 leaks sealed globally show the pipeline from detection to fix works. But the world's largest economies (US, Russia, China, Iran) are ignoring alerts entirely: the US alone received 138 alerts with zero response, meaning the climate "emergency brake" remains stuck even as the technology to pull it finally exists.