COP28: China 'misunderstood' on methane emissions: climate envoy

China has made significant efforts to cut its methane emissions and is looking to help developing nations do the same, Xie Zhenhua, China's Special Climate Envoy, said Dec. 4 at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai.

Xie said China did not get the recognition it deserved for cutting methane, a powerful climate pollutant more than 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year time frame.

"There has been a misunderstanding in the international community that China has made slow progress in methane emission reductions. Why? They say 'you don't have a national-level methane emissions reduction plan'," Xie said at a COP28 event at the China Pavilion.

While a national-level action plan has just been released in November, China has been introducing policies and measures on methane since 2007, Xie said.

"We've done a lot in cutting methane emissions in coal, oil and gas, agriculture, and waste treatment. We never regard methane merely as waste. Instead, we treat it as a valuable resource to be recycled and reused," he said.

China was also willing to cooperate with other countries, including developing countries, "to help them to resolve the issue of methane emissions," he said.

China's new methane plan offers guidance to control venting of methane from oil and gas fields, and encourages oil and gas companies to recycle associated gas and vented gas.

The plan calls for coal mining companies to increase extraction and use of coal mine gas, with annual utilization of the gas to reach 6 Bcm by 2025, while collection rates from oilfield-associated methane are to reach international levels by 2030, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier.

The plan also includes measures to control methane emissions from agricultural activities and livestock.

"Now we have a national plan, some people stand up and say, 'you don't have [an emission reduction] target'. No matter what we do, there are always complaints," Xie said.

Curbing coal the key

Managing emissions from the coal industry is crucial in the battle against methane, Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, said at the same event.

"Without coping with the problem with coal, we have no chance to reach our targets," he said.

On Dec. 2, 50 oil and natural gas producers, accounting for 40% of global oil production, signed an agreement at COP28 to cut their carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and curb methane emissions to near-zero by 2030.

While Zhenhua Oil, the oil and gas arm of China's state-owned defense products maker Norinco, signed the agreement, none of the three largest Chinese oil majors (Sinopec, PetroChina and CNOOC) were signatories.

"In the United States, the biggest source of methane is oil and gas. In China it is coal," said Fred Krupp, president of non-profit advocacy group the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), when asked to comment on the absence of Chinese oil majors in the agreement.

"More than half of the world's methane from coal comes from Chinese mines," he noted.

The good news was that China's coal mine emissions were concentrated into a few hundred assets.

"China has come up with a comprehensive national plan on methane so I am very hopeful," he said.