A new report from the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) has said Nigeria and nine other countries account for  three-quarters of gas flaring.

The report released in Washington on Thursday lists the top seven countries in gas flaring as Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, and Nigeria.

These seven countries have remained the top seven consistently over the last ten years.

Also on the top ten are Kazakhstan and  Colombia.

The report shows that global progress to reduce the wasteful industry practice of burning natural gas during oil production has stalled over the last decade and gas flaring resulted in nearly 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions in 2021.

The Global Director for the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank, Demetrios Papathanasiou, said:

“Gas flaring results from market and economic constraints and a lack of appropriate regulation and political will. The practice releases pollutants into the atmosphere, and we estimate that the practice released 361 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, 39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in the form of methane, and black carbon (soot), contributing significantly to global warming.