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What the Global Methane Pledge means for CATF

October 4, 2021 Work Area: Methane

On the 17th of September, the EU and the U.S. announced a landmark new Global Methane Pledge, with U.S. President Biden declaring that reducing methane would “rapidly reduce the rate of global warming.”

Alongside EU President von der Leyen, Biden urged other heads of State to join this pledge to collectively reduce worldwide methane emissions from all sectors by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030, and to take comprehensive domestic action to achieve this target. In addition to the USA and EU, the initial signatories are Argentina, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Mexico and the UK (Japan and Micronesia have since announced they will sign as well).

This first-ever global political commitment on methane elevates the importance of rapidly reducing warming to help stave off irreversible changes to the climate. The U.S. and the EU rightfully called methane reduction the “single most effective strategy to reduce global warming in the near term and keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.”

The fact that the EU and Italy are part of this first wave of signatories is particularly significant considering the focus of the #CutMethaneEU campaign. Through the campaign, methane pollution has been exposed throughout Europe for the first time and European policymakers are paying attention. Just last week, MEPs called for binding reduction targets on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector to help the EU reach its climate goals and improve air quality. And methane legislation that would help the EU implement the Global Methane Pledge is expected later this year.

Please read our recommendations for EU-wide methane policy.

For more Clean Air Task Force perspective on the Global Methane Pledge, read our statement and check out interviews with our experts in Reuters, Washington Post, and Bloomberg which called the pledge the climate movement’s “Biggest Win Yet” leading up to COP26.

After focusing on methane for two decades, CATF is thrilled to be working alongside numerous European partner organizations to drive the issue forward. Your help in sharing this story, spreading the evidence we’ve captured alongside partner groups, and calling on European policymakers to step up helps make all of this possible.

But we are far from done!

We’re planning more trips in Europe to document and expose methane pollution. We’re working with major media outlets to keep this issue visible. Our partners across the continent are pushing their governments to do more, both by signing the Pledge if they haven’t already and by enacting concrete policy to achieve the 30% reduction.

Now, our attention turns to COP26 – the perfect stage for the much-anticipated formal launch of the Global Methane Pledge with more countries! Watch this space.

Thank you for your attention and support. We hope you continue to follow our work and help to spread the word in your home country.

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