At today’s COP28 Global Methane Pledge Ministerial, Ministers welcomed transformational national actions and catalytic grant funding to deliver on the goal to cut methane at least 30 percent by 2030.
This year, Global Methane Pledge (GMP) partners announced:
1. Over $1 billion in new grant funding for methane action mobilized since COP27, more than triple current levels, which will mobilize billions in investment to reduce methane.
2. Game-changing new national commitments and legislation from top oil and gas methane emitters alongside decisive action on waste and food and agriculture.
3. Transformational data tools including the full launch of the Methane Alert and Response System and a new Data for Methane Action Campaign.
4. New members and expanded leadership. Canada, Federated States of Micronesia, Germany, Japan, and Nigeria joined the United States and European Union as Global Methane Pledge Champions. Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Romania, and Angola joined the Pledge, bringing total participation to 155 governments.
Achieving the GMP goal of cutting anthropogenic methane emissions at least 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels is the fastest way to reduce near-term warming and is essential to keep a 1.5°C temperature limit within reach.
Methane contributes 30% of current warming and is a precursor of tropospheric ozone, a powerful greenhouse gas and air pollutant that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths and hundreds of millions of tons of crop losses each year. Rapidly reducing methane emissions advances global climate, health, food security, and energy security objectives simultaneously.
Methane Finance Sprint Delivers Over $1 Billion in Catalytic New Grant Funding
President Biden launched the Methane Finance Sprint in April 2023 at the Major Economies Forum, with the aim of raising at least $200 million in new high-impact grant funding by COP28. Today, governments, the European Commission, philanthropies, and the private sector significantly exceeded that target, announcing over $1 billion in new grant funding committed since COP27, which more than triples previous annual methane grant funding and will leverage billions more in urgently needed project investment. These funds will support cutting methane emissions across all sectors with a focus in low- and middle-income countries. The Sprint includes $255 million for the re-launch of the World Bank Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership, $200 million for the launch of the Enteric Fermentation Accelerator, and additional support for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), the International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), and other programs, elaborated below.
According to a recently released report from the Climate Policy Initiative, average annual methane abatement finance has moved in the right direction since the launch of the Global Methane Pledge, with an increase of 18% in 2021/2022 compared to 2019/2020. The new funding from the Methane Finance Sprint exponentially accelerates this progress providing crucial technical assistance to further accelerate national methane planning and policy action and project pipeline development work that will catalyze billions in methane reduction investment.
Governments and the European Commission contributed over $408 million in funding toward the Sprint, including $3.5 million from Canada, $190 million (€175 million) from the European Commission, $22.7 million from France, $21.8 million from Germany (intended) $3 million from Ireland, $7.7 million from Japan, $100 million from the United Arab Emirates, $2.5 million from the United Kingdom, and $57 million from the United States. Philanthropies and the private sector contributed over $637 million to the total.
In addition to the over $1 billion in new grant funding, international financial institutions approved over $3.5 billion in new investments for methane-reducing projects since COP27. Approvals include $375 million from the Green Climate Fund and partners, over $1.9 billion (€1.78 billion) from the European Investment Bank, over $218 million (€200 million) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and $372.5 million from the Inter-American Development Bank. The World Bank approved at least $700 million in investments, including a $255 million for rice project in China, $300 million for landfill methane reduction in Cote d'Ivoire, and $145 million for wastewater methane reduction in Malawi.
World’s Top Oil and Gas Emitters Advance New National Actions to Cut Energy Sector Emissions—The Fastest Methane Reduction Strategy
The fossil energy sector has the largest, fastest, and cheapest methane reduction potential across sectors, and must deliver over half of all methane reductions by 2030 in all credible pathways to achieve the Global Methane Pledge. As the International Energy Agency (IEA) and CCAC made clear in a recent report, even deep cuts in fossil energy production and use will not limit warming to 1.5°C without immediate additional action to cut methane emissions from fossil fuels. At the COP28 Ministerial, partners announced new steps to deliver methane reductions in the energy sector, including:
The world’s largest oil and gas methane emitters announced new policies, regulations, and national commitments to cut fossil methane, including:
The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 announced new members. The Partnership now represents over 120 companies with assets in more than 60 countries on five continents and covers over 35% of the world’s oil and gas production and over 70% of LNG flows.
The World Bank launched its Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership (GFMR) with $255 million in new grant funding to catalyze oil and gas methane and flaring reduction in developing countries. The GFMR is supported by financial contributions from the United Arab Emirates, United States, Norway, BP, ENI, Equinor, Occidental, Shell, and TotalEnergies. Access to project development and financing support through GFMR will be contingent on commitments to achieve near-zero methane emissions by 2030 by reducing methane intensity to below 0.2%, achieve zero routine flaring by 2030, measure and report methane emissions through the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 framework, and endorse the Global Methane Pledge.
The United States, the European Commission, and twelve other natural gas importing and exporting countries formed an international working group to advance comparable and reliable information about methane and CO2 emissions across the natural gas supply chain to drive global emissions reductions.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) is expanding its Satellite Monitoring Campaign to provide actionable data to reduce emissions from large-magnitude methane plumes and flares, supported by in-kind contributions from OGCI companies. ExxonMobil also intends to provide up to $25 million in in-kind assistance to address capability shortcomings to reduce methane emissions.
GMP Partners Announce the Largest Ever Research and Development Effort on Livestock Methane, Anchoring Progress in the Food and Agriculture Pathway
As part of the GMP Food and Agriculture Pathway, partners are investing in innovation, measurement and verification, and support for farmers. These measures focus on reducing emissions from the sector while advancing food security and farmer livelihoods by focusing on sustainable productivity growth. Highlights include:
GMP Partners Launch New Lowering Organic Waste Methane Initiative, Among Other Steps to Advance the Waste Pathway
Partners highlighted several new initiatives in support of the GMP Waste Pathway which aims to jumpstart a dramatic scale-up of global action on reducing waste methane. Highlights include:
CCAC Announces Major Progress in the Development of Methane Action Plans, Which Now Cover 55% of Global Emissions
86 governments and the European Union have engaged on methane action planning to date. 75 are participating in the CCAC Methane Roadmap Action Programme (M-RAP), which helps GMP countries to develop national methane plans using a transparent and harmonized methodology. 57 governments and the European Union—covering over 55% of global anthropogenic methane emissions—have completed or are in the process of completing their plan, 31 of them with support from the CCAC. The Republic of Korea and Iceland have just issued their completed plans. All ODA-eligible GMP countries can receive CCAC funding support to develop their national methane roadmap or action plan.
As of October 2023, it is estimated that over 90% of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) cover methane emissions within the scope of their target. At the Ministerial, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry issued a challenge to all governments to include all greenhouse gases from all sectors in their revised 2035 NDC target.
At the subnational level, California launched a new Subnational Methane Action Coalition with 15 jurisdictions around the world to empower subnational governments to make concrete progress towards their climate goals by enabling methane emissions reductions in the energy, agricultural and waste sectors.
The Methane Alert and Response System and a New Methane Data Campaign Drive Progress in Converting Data to Action
Since COP27, partners have continued to make significant progress leveraging transformational data tools to scale up methane action, including:
For more details on the above, see www.globalmethanepledge.org. For further information, please contact climatecomms [at] state.gov.
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