COP29: Measures, funding to reduce upstream methane emissions gather pace

A series of initiatives to reduce methane emissions were unveiled on Nov. 12 at the UN Climate Change Conference, with several countries, industry bodies and financial institutions involved.

The US, China and Azerbaijan convened a summit on the sidelines of COP29 focusing on cutting emissions of methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

In a statement, the US Department of State said that governments and philanthropy announced nearly $500 million in new global grant funding for methane abatement in 2024, bringing total international grant funding to over $2 billion to tackle superpollutants

Methane is a much more powerful climate pollutant than carbon dioxide, with estimates suggesting it is more than 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year time frame.

The energy sector -- including oil, natural gas, coal and bioenergy -- accounts for nearly 40% of methane emissions from human activity.

Other superpollutants like hydrofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, and tropospheric ozone, are also considered more potent than CO2.

US, China ties on methane

The US climate envoy confirmed that the country had finalized its rule to implement the oil and gas Waste Emissions Charge, to incentivize the reduction of harmful and wasteful methane pollution in the oil and gas sector.

The country, which is the world's largest oil and gas producer, released its updated National Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which showcases more than $18 billion in funding for methane action announced and disbursed in 2024, according to the Department of State.

Since 2023, the US and Chinese governments have deepened collaborations in methane emission reductions. Notably, in November 2023, the two countries released the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis, which highlighted methane emission reduction as a key area for cooperation.

The Methane Emissions Control Action Plan, mentioned by the Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin, was also released in November 2023. It was the Chinese government's first national-level action plan targeting methane emission reductions.

The US and China have differences and divides in many climate agendas, such as trade disputes over clean energy products and whether developing countries should contribute to climate finance. However, methane emission reduction has been widely seen by policy analysts as a common ground for the two countries to collaborate.

"I think our dialogue and technical discussions on reducing all non-CO2 gases is going to be particularly productive," John Podesta, climate envoy of current US president Joe Biden, said at a COP29 press conference when asked about his collaboration with the Chinese climate envoy Liu Zhenmin.

Podesta said the two economies understood each other's strategies to reduce non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in sectors like energy as well as waste treatment, and the two countries agreed these emissions could be reduced at a low cost per ton of CO2 equivalent.

It remains uncertain, however, whether such collaborations on methane emission reductions can be sustained during the Trump 2.0 administration, policy analysts pointed out.

Other initiatives

Meanwhile, the European Commission also launched a new Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap designed to accelerate methane emissions reduction associated with the production and consumption of fossil fuels.

Methane emissions from fossil fuels would need to fall by some 75% by 2030 to stay within that 1.5 degree Celsius limit, while the Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap provided an "essential first step" in tackling emissions, according to a coalition of NGOs formed by the Clean Air Task Force, Methane Matters Coalition and Environmental Defense Fund.

Countries like South Korea, UAE, Azerbaijan, the UK, Brazil, and Nigeria also announced or pledged various initiatives focused on methane at COP29 on Nov. 12.

This comes almost a year after several oil and natural gas producers pledged to reduce their carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and curb methane emissions to near zero by 2030.

Under the agreement, signed at COP28, 50 companies committed to set interim targets that would reduce methane emissions to 0.2% of oil and natural gas production by 2030, and end routine flaring.

These pledges will be scrutinized using technology and data, provided by MethaneSAT, which is a satellite designed to track and measure methane emissions from leaking oil and gas production sites.