US/EU Global Pledge to Slash Methane Emissions by 2030

Date: September 24, 2021

Source: News Room

Methane is the oft overlooked greenhouse gas when it comes to debates on how to fight human induced climate change. Indeed, Carbon Dioxide, and the industries and machinery that emits it, is usually at the heart of talking points and headlines. However, methane, while representing a smaller fraction of total global emissions than CO2, is a much more potent greenhouse gas.

Currently, officials in the US and EU are pushing for a global pledge to reduce human caused methane emissions by 30% by 2030. While the US and EU are currently on board, other major fossil fuel producers like Russia and China have yet to join. This pledge comes as part of a suite of measures that hope to fulfill the work started by the voluntary, unenforceable 2016 Paris Climate Agreement.

While regulations aimed at reducing methane emissions mostly target oil and gas production, landfills and other waste management facilities also represent an important source of methane. Any realistic policy on methane reduction will have to address waste management, especially in countries where waste infrastructure is decades behind the US and EU.

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