Global Methane Pledge Offers Reason for Cautious Optimism

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- More than 100 countries have signed a first-of-its-kind pledge to cut emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, by 30% between now and 2030. The signatories represent 70% of the global economy, including six of the world’s top 10 methane polluters. In all the back and forth over the Glasgow climate talks, the importance of this breakthrough is easy to overlook.

Methane has been called climate’s “low-hanging invisible fruit.” A byproduct of fossil fuel, landfills, and agriculture, it’s a “super pollutant” that can trap heat in the atmosphere 80 times more effectively than carbon dioxide. Because it’s so powerful, a tiny amount in the atmosphere can have huge effects on the climate. The good news is that methane only lasts in the atmosphere for about 12 years — unlike carbon dioxide, which lasts for centuries. That means cutting methane emissions will pay off very quickly, both for the planet and for human health. What’s more, up to half of human-generated methane emissions can be cut at low or even negative cost using existing technology.

A fast, easy, cheap win for the climate? It sounds too good to be true. And there’s reason to be cautious. For one thing, several notorious methane polluters — including Turkmenistan and Russia — still haven’t signed the pledge. And the commitment, like the Paris Agreement, is voluntary and lacks enforcement mechanisms. Its success will depend on countries holding themselves (and each other) accountable. The world doesn’t have an impeccable track record on that point.

The U.S., which helped write the pledge, is showing what can be done. The Biden administration, trying to regain the mantle of climate leadership, has been moving aggressively to curb methane emissions. It recently released a suite of tougher oil, gas and pipeline regulations that would prevent tens of million tons from being released, at minimal cost to producers. The new rules will face legal challenges from industry and oil- and gas-producing states, but if they prevail, the EPA predicts they’ll cut methane emissions from the energy sector by 75%.

The administration is also moving forward on programs to curb emissions from landfills and farms, and to support R&D for methane-monitoring technologies, building on work pioneered by nongovernmental initiatives such as CarbonMapper and PermianMAP (both of which are supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies). Meanwhile, the bipartisan infrastructure bill recently signed into law includes billions of dollars to plug methane leaks from abandoned oil and gas wells and to clean up coal mines — another source of the climate-cooking gas. Together, these changes will put a big dent in the country’s methane emissions, and the world’s.

Still, a smart plan that would require polluters to pay for their methane emissions — and offer oil and gas companies help in cleaning up their act — has been held up in Congress, along with other sensible environmental provisions of Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan. And environmentalists are rightly disappointed that Biden’s current proposals won’t stop fossil-fuel firms from routinely “flaring” methane, as some states already do. Elsewhere, too, the messiness of democratic politics and entrenched economic interests can prevent countries from taking simple, affordable steps to cut their emissions.

Despite these challenges, the fact remains that slashing methane emissions is a fast, powerful, cost-effective way to reduce global warming, and new technologies have made ambitious cuts more realistic than ever. The United Nations notes that human-generated emissions could be cut by 45% by 2040 using current technology. The Global Methane Pledge is most welcome — but it’s feasible, and eminently desirable, to go further.

Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.