Global Gas Flaring Rises for a Third Straight Year, Wasting an Estimated US$54 Billion, World Bank Says
Global gas flaring rose for the third consecutive year in 2025, climbing to 167 billion cubic metres and wasting an estimated US$54 billion worth of gas, according to the World Bank Group’s annual Global Gas Flaring Tracker. With many countries, especially the poorest, facing energy shortages, the World Bank says capturing this gas could strengthen energy security, generate power, support job creating economic activity and cut emissions.
The report, which draws on satellite data, finds that the volume of gas flared in 2025 nearly equals Africa’s entire annual gas consumption. Flaring has now risen for several years in a row, from 139 billion cubic metres in 2022 to 148 billion in 2023, 151 billion in 2024 and 167 billion in 2025, an increase of about 11 percent last year alone despite years of international commitments to curb the practice. A small group of countries accounts for the bulk of global flaring, around four fifths of the total, while together producing less than half of the world’s oil.
A structural problem, not a technical one
The World Bank argues that the tools needed to end routine flaring are well established, and that what holds back progress is structural rather than technical: inadequate regulation, insufficient capital, limited market infrastructure, and a failure by some operators and governments to treat reduction as a priority. Eliminating routine flaring globally would require an estimated US$70 billion to US$100 billion, less than twice the annual value of the gas currently being wasted.
The Tracker also highlights that progress is possible where policy, investment and leadership align, with several producers having achieved sustained reductions through stronger regulation and targeted gas capture projects.
Why it matters
Flaring sits at the intersection of energy security, economics and emissions. Many countries import costly gas while flaring large volumes at their own oilfields; capturing that gas could lower energy bills, generate new revenue and improve access to reliable power. As Demetrios Papathanasiou, the World Bank Group’s Global Director for Energy, put it, the gas currently flared could instead be used to power industries and businesses, create jobs and strengthen energy security.
For the Gulf and other major hydrocarbon producers, flaring reduction is increasingly part of the energy efficiency and sustainability agenda, with captured gas able to feed domestic power, industry and export markets. The report’s emphasis on regulation, investment and governance points to where producers and governments can unlock value while supporting climate goals.
Outlook
The findings reinforce the challenge of meeting the Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative, which the Tracker monitors. With the value of wasted gas running into tens of billions of dollars a year, the World Bank frames stronger regulation, targeted investment and clearer governance as the route to turning a persistent source of waste into a source of energy security and economic value.
Sources: World Bank Group, 2026 Global Gas Flaring Tracker.
