A new methane initiative was announced on November 11 at the 27th Conference of the Parties (CoP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Sharm El-Sheikh, in Egypt.

John Kerry, US Special Envoy for Climate, announced the initiative alongside the EU, UK, Japan, Canada, Norway and Singapore. Climate Campaigners with the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), who had early sight of the text of the declaration, made the following comments…

EIA Climate Campaigner, Kim O’Dowd said: “’With this initiative, signatories are just supplementing a promise with yet another promise, with no accountability mechanisms or means of implementation; it’s not enough.

“Overall, this declaration lacks the key components to deliver on its goals, such as concrete and binding objectives, mandatory reporting, monitoring and verification, national actions plans and targeted financial support to ensure implementation.

“We have only a few years to give humanity a shot at staying within a 1.5 degree C global temperature rise, and we have no time for more pledges or declarations. What the world desperately needs now are real actions and commitments – something far more meaningful to address the ongoing crisis.

“This declaration could also be used by fossil fuel importers to release themselves from their responsibilities under the notion that emissions associated with imports are being adequately addressed.

“Take the European Union, for example – about 90% of the fossil gas it consumes is imported, and the vast majority of methane emissions associated with its consumption happen long before the methane crosses EU borders.

“The EU had a real opportunity to address this problem under the EU Methane Regulation, but instead of concrete measures on imports, the European Commission turned a blind eye to the problem – which makes new initiative very unsettling, especially given that the European Parliament and Council are debating whether additional measures on imports are needed.

“In addition, the declaration also focuses exclusively on the energy sector, leaving aside methane emissions from agriculture and waste, which jointly represent about 60% of human-driven methane emissions.

“This new declaration is nowhere near enough to deliver on the urgent need for mitigation in each of the main methane-emitting sectors, which will help protect the people and the planet. We cannot wait for another COP to deliver on the promises made with the Global Methane Pledge. Negotiations for a global methane agreement, which EIA is already working on, have to start now.”