At the COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow on November 2, 2021, global leaders announced that more than 100 countries had signed a pledge to reduce their methane emissions 30% by 2030.

With it being an ultra-potent greenhouse gas, experts emphasize the importance of reducing methane (CH4) emissions.

Some background information

• COP26 is the 2021 United Nations climate change conference.
• What does COP26 stand for? COP means “Conference of the Parties,” and 2021 was the 26th meeting. The “parties” are the 196 countries that ratified the treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This treaty was updated in 2015 when nations signed the Paris climate agreement which set the goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius (3.6° F) and preferably to 1.5° C (2.7° F), to avoid catastrophic climate change.
• Since 1972 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been the leading global environmental authority.

According to the leading global environmental authority, the UNEP, the oil and gas industry accounts for 35 – 40% of annual methane emissions, primarily from leaks at wells, along pipelines, and at transfer stations.

The industry could in some cases profit from doing something that would help the planet.

The UNEP report estimated that the oil and gas industry could reduce as much as 75% of its methane leaks at little, no, or negative cost—meaning the industry could in some cases profit from doing something that would help the planet.

In 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put rules in place requiring new oil and gas infrastructure to be carefully controlled for methane leaks. Those regulations, loosened during the previous Presidential administration, were reinstated in June of 2021. But they only covered a fraction of potential sources. The current administration intends to expand regulations to include existing infrastructure, thus covering a greater number of methane sources. A fee on excess methane leakage, which would be charged to producers for emissions beyond a threshold, is also under consideration in ongoing budget reconciliation negotiations in Congress.