Carbon has long been the most public target for governments and business working to fight climate change. However, the Biden administration took the opportunity presented by COP26 to unveil further measures in the battle against Methane.
Methane is a potent global warming gas. The gas is more than 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is a significant contributor to global climate change.
President Biden took steps this week to reduce the potential harm of methane by using the backdrop of COP26 to announce measures aimed at the oil and gas industry.
Biden has said the oil and gas industry is “the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States.”
Under the United State’s Clean Air Act, oil and gas companies will be required to measure methane emissions, utilise early warning systems and adopt new technology to reduce methane emissions.
“Proposals represent essential progress and long-demanded action to rein in methane emissions from oil and gas operations,” said Julie McNamara, deputy policy director in the Climate and Energy Program at UCS.
“For too long, we’ve known the damaging impacts of this potent heat-trapping pollutant, known that oil and gas operations continue to be a major source of it, and known that solutions to drive rapid reductions across the sector already exist–yet still, oil and gas operations continue to release untenably high and entirely preventable methane emissions. This is no accident, but rather the result of a concerted industry lobbying campaign to block, delay, and roll back federal regulations.
“Swiftly reducing methane emissions will result in significant and much-needed near-term climate progress.”
The UK government says they have reduced Methane emissions by 60% over the past three decades. Over 100 countries joined a pledge to reduce methane emissions this week but China, Russia, India and Australia declined.