Cop 27: US commits $20bn to cut methane emissions

The US government said today it will deploy $20bn to tackle methane emissions, aiming to significantly reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas (GHG) by 2030.

It said the country's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will toughen standards proposed in November last year, including a new "super-emitter response" scheme, which would require operators to respond to "credible third-party reports of high-volume methane leaks". If finalised, the proposals would reduce methane emissions "from covered sources" by 87pc by 2030, from a 2005 baseline.

The supplemental proposal, which is open for comment until 13 February 2023, will deliver net climate benefits of around $3.1bn-3.2bn/yr from 2023-35, the EPA estimated. This includes savings from recovered natural gas, and benefits from avoided climate damages.

The US administration today released a methane emissions reduction plan, outlining more than 50 steps to address the issue. The oil and gas sector is at the top of the agenda, but the government also plans to improve energy efficiency and drive electrification and "clean manufacturing" — the latter focussed on non-fossil fuel sources of heat for the industrial sector.

In agriculture, the government has a scheme that will reward farmers for reducing methane emissions and sequestering carbon, as well as setting up GHG measurement initiatives. The US department of agriculture (USDA) will launch a biogas taskforce "to facilitate the collection and use of methane for on-farm renewable energy applications."

The UN today established a new methane detection system, which will alert governments, businesses and operators about large sources of methane "to foster rapid mitigation action." The Methane Alert and Response System (Mars) will use satellite data to track emissions, starting with the largest sources, in the energy sector and will follow lower-emitting sources and include data on coal, waste, livestock and rice.

Methane from human activities is responsible for around 25pc of climate change caused by humans, the UN said. It has said that cutting methane emissions is "the single fastest way to tackle climate change in the short-term," and GHG reporting must improve.

By Georgia Gratton