Global bottom-up and top-down estimates of natural, geologic methane (CH₄) emissions (average approximately 45 Tg yr^–1) have recently been questioned by near-zero (approximately 1.6 Tg yr^–1) estimates based on measurements of ¹⁴CH₄ trapped in ice cores, which imply that current fossil fuel industries’ CH₄ emissions are underestimated by 25%–40%. As we show here, such a global near-zero geologic CH₄ emission estimate is incompatible with multiple independent, bottom-up emission estimates from individual natural geologic seepage areas, each of which is of the order of 0.1–3 Tg yr^–1. Further research is urgently needed to resolve the conundrum before rejecting either method or associated emission estimates in global CH₄ accounting.