Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and air pollutant and is responsible for approximately a third of current global warming. The European Parliament adopted its position on a new law to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector to reach the European Union (EU)’s climate goals and improve air quality.

The new law is the first piece of EU legislation aimed at cutting methane emissions and covers direct methane emissions from the oil, fossil gas and coal sectors, and from biomethane once it is injected into the gas network. Parliament urges the European Commission to propose a binding 2030 reduction target for EU methane emissions for all relevant sectors by the end of 2025. Member states of the EU should furthermore set national reduction targets as part of their integrated national energy and climate plans. It is intended that from 2026, importers of coal, oil and gas to be obliged to demonstrate that imported fossil energy also meets the requirements in the regulation.

The EU had signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2˚C warming by 2050.