In 2022, the global energy industry released into the atmosphere some 135 million tons of methane - a potent greenhouse gas responsible for roughly a third of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution.
To address this huge problem, the Global Methane Pledge was launched at COP26 in November 2021. Led by the United States and the European Union, the Pledge now has 111 country participants who together are responsible for 45 percent of global human-caused methane emissions. By joining the Pledge, countries commit to work together to reduce these emissions by at least 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030.
Congress also took a significant step in this fight. As The Atlantic’s Emma Marris reported, the Inflation Reduction Act, which became law in August, contained one sizable stick tucked amongst a lot of carrots: a methane fee. It applies only to large oil and gas facilities with significant emissions. According to the Congressional Research Service, “This charge is the first time the federal government has directly imposed a charge, fee, or tax on [greenhouse-gas] emissions.”
Last November EPA proposed rules that agency chief Michael Regan said would reduce flaring—a technique used by gas producers to burn off excess methane from oil and natural-gas wells. Owners would be required to monitor abandoned wells for methane emissions and plug any leaks, he said.
Unfortunately, some congressional Republicans want to eliminate the tax on methane emissions. A provision doing just that is part of H.R. 1, the broad energy bill passed March 30 by the House. The legislation is not expected to win Senate approval.
Is the oil and gas industry cooperating with efforts to reduce methane emissions? The United Nations’s voluntary oil and gas reporting and mitigation program, the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 now includes some 100 companies with assets on five continents, representing more than 35 percent of the world's oil and gas production. U.S. oil and gas companies are expressing increasing interest in mitigating methane emissions, considering it a relatively easy climate change solution and good business for making their gas cleaner to global buyers sensitive to the emissions intensity of their gas supplies. There are critics, however, who maintain that the industry is moving too slowly.
Agriculture, including livestock, is another major source of methane emissions, generating about a third of the total. Last month, the French food company Danone, owner of milk and yogurt brands like Activia and Horizon Organics, pledged to cut absolute methane emissions from its milk supply chains by 30 percent by 2030, making it the first major food company with a methane-specific emissions target.
In Hadley, Massachusetts, Barstow’s Longview Farm is helping businesses turn food waste into clean energy through an anaerobic digester. The machine takes methane from cow manure and food waste and turns it into enough electricity to power 1,600 homes, The Boston Globe explained.
Another hopeful sign is improved tracking of emissions. The UN’s environment watchdog plans to launch a public database of global methane leaks detected by space satellites. The UN is calling it MARS or Methane Alert and Response System.
Next year, Harvard Professor Steven Wofsy, working with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and others plan to launch a satellite that they say is more precise than other methane-sensing satellites. Named MethaneSAT, it will allow scientists to track emissions to their sources and provide key data for reduction efforts.
Of course, carbon dioxide emissions remain the number-one concern as we struggle to combat climate change. But reducing methane emissions is essential.