COP 29: Key Moments From Global Methane Pledge

The Global Methane Pledge (GMP) unites 159 participating countries in pursuit of a goal to cut methane emissions 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030. At the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, participants met to review progress made over the last year and commit to new actions to tackle this potent greenhouse gas. Highlights include:

• RAISING AMBITION: 159 GMP Countries and Nearly 100 National Plans - Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Guatemala, and Madagascar joined the GMP in 2024. Nearly 100 countries have completed or are working on national methane action plans, with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, convened by United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), providing support to 90 of those countries and funding implementation work in 65.
• MOBILIZING FINANCE: Over $2 Billion in Grants and Billions More in Project Finance - At COP29, governments and philanthropy announced nearly $500 million in new grant funding for methane abatement, bringing total grant funding mobilized under the Pledge to over $2 billion. Building on this grant support, international financial institutions showcased billions in additional methane project investment.
• ACCELERATING ACTION: Policies and Regulations from more than a Dozen Top Emitters Across Sectors - At COP29, building on policy and regulatory action by eight of the top 15 oil and gas methane emitters at COP28, the European Commission, with the support of the U.S. and other countries and organizations announced the Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap to enhance importer-exporter collaboration to spur reductions in the sector. In the waste sector, six of the top 20 emitting countries announced new policy and regulatory action to cut emissions.
• ADVANCING DATA: Greatly Expanded Data Availability and Action - UNEP's International Methane Emissions Observatory has notified over 30 countries of 1,200 super emitter events in the oil and gas sector and, through the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0, is working with over 140 companies to improve data and reduce emissions. Two new cutting-edge methane-detecting satellites were launched in 2024 with nearly 10 additional satellite launches planned by 2026, ushering in a new era of space-based methane detection.

Global Methane Pledge Champions Canada, European Commission, Federated States of Micronesia, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, and the United States, noted the significant progress under the Pledge to date and reaffirmed their commitment to lead international methane efforts. In an open letter, they called on all Pledge participants as well as subnational governments, private companies, and non-governmental actors to continue and accelerate efforts to reduce methane emissions as rapidly as possible in this critical decade and beyond.

RAISING AMBITION: New GMP joiners, national plans, and progress on NDCs

• Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Madagascar joined the Global Methane Pledge, bringing the total members to 159 plus the European Union.
• The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) released a guidebook to support countries to include methane and other super pollutants in the information accompanying their nationally determined contributions (NDCs). CCAC is working in 35 countries to implement the recommendations and improve the robustness of methane's treatment in NDCs.
• In 2024, CCAC supported 33 countries' national planning efforts through the Methane Roadmap Action Program, with recent completions by Costa Rica, Cambodia, and Panama. CCAC has supported a total of 90 countries in developing national methane action plans, out of a total of nearly 100 countries who have completed or are working on such plans.

MOBILIZING FINANCE: Unlocking billions in project investment

• At COP 29, governments and philanthropies announced nearly $500 million in new grant funding in 2024 for methane abatement. Government contributions include:
  • The European Commission committed an additional 105.6 million Euros ($111 million) for actions with partner countries with a high potential for methane reductions, including 15.1 million Euros ($15.9 million) for the core implementing partners of the GMP and 55 million Euros ($58 million) under the 'Horizon Europe' research and innovation fund.
  • The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), through the $22.15 million State Department-funded Methane Accelerator, is reducing methane emissions while improving development outcomes across the energy, waste, and agriculture sectors, and has funded methane abatement work in Haiti, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Philippines, Tanzania, Thailand, and Vietnam.
  • The Republic of Korea announced ROK's $20 million ASEAN-Korea Cooperation on Methane Mitigation Project to support methane reduction and monitoring with ASEAN countries.
  • The United Kingdom announced £5 million ($6.5 million) of new funding in support of the CCAC's Fossil Fuel Regulatory Program.
  • Canada committed $7.5 million over four years to reduce methane emissions from the waste sector in four Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) (Belize, Grenada, Guyana, and Saint Lucia) and two Pacific SIDS (Fiji and Samoa), and $2 million to support methane mitigation projects in Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, India, Nigeria, and Serbia.
• Spurred by the over $1 billion in grant funding announced at the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28), international financial institutions have expanded methane-related project finance in the last year. This includes over 2 billion Euros ($2.1 billion) from the European Investment Bank, over 350 million Euros ($385 million) in loans and grants from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and billions from the World Bank. The African Development Bank also recently launched a new $10 million program focused on gender-transformative methane reduction.
• The CCAC announced 2024 funding of $17.8 million, bringing total CCAC funding supporting methane abatement in 65 countries since 2022 to $28.5 million.
• With funding from the United States and other partners, the Global Methane Initiative has conducted more than 25 technical assessments and hosted more than 100 workshops, trainings, consultations, site visits, and meetings, resulting in nearly 3500 people trained on quantifying and/or reducing methane emissions.

ACCELERATING ACTION: New government and private sector action across sectors

Energy pathway - New progress to slash methane emissions from oil, gas, and coal

• Major emitters announced new steps to cut fossil methane:
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized its rule to implement the oil and gas Waste Emissions Charge, which rises to $1,500 per metric ton of methane by 2026, and unveiled new steps to implement the oil and gas Super Emitter Program, which requires companies to take action when notified about large methane emission events.
  • Kazakhstan announced it would strive to complete regulations to reduce non-emergency methane venting and promote leak detection and repair in the oil and gas sector by the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30).
  • Canada published draft regulations with the goal of reducing oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75% from 2012 levels by 2030.
  • The European Commission began implementing the European Union Methane Regulation, which officially entered into force in August 2024.
• Partners implemented millions of dollars in support for capacity building on methane mitigation in the fossil energy sector:
  • The World Bank Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership, which was announced at COP 28 with over $255 million in grant funding, has now begun work in over a dozen countries.
  • The CCAC launched the Fossil Fuel Regulatory Programme, to support up to 20 developing country governments to effectively implement policy and regulatory frameworks for methane abatement from oil, gas, and coal by 2027.
• Countries progressed methane reduction partnerships among fossil fuel importers and exporters:
  • The European Commission launched the Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap, with support from Canada, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as many additional stakeholders, aiming to strengthen importing and exporting countries collaboration to abate methane in existing assets, with concrete implementation examples showcased at COP30.
  • LNG buyers in Japan and the Republic of Korea published an Annual Report for the Coalition for LNG Emission Abatement toward Net-zero (CLEAN Initiative), including the world's first methane data disclosure by project.
• Partners advanced work to improve methane measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) and accountability toward targets:
  • Over 140 member companies have now joined Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, with assets in more than 70 countries on five continents and covering over 40% of the world's oil and gas production and over 70% of LNG flows.
  • 20 natural gas importing and exporting countries advanced efforts to develop in 2025 a consensus-based voluntary standard for quantifying and reporting natural gas supply chain GHG emissions, supported by an accredited independent third-party, through the (MMRV) working group. This standard will allow buyers to use purchasing decisions to incentivize GHG reductions.
  • UNEP's International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), the International Energy Agency, and Environmental Defense Fund launched a comprehensive accountability framework for assessing the progress of the oil and gas industry towards targets set out in the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter.

Waste pathway - A landmark year for waste sector action

• Seven GMP participant countries, including six of the top 20 waste sector methane emitters, announced new steps taken in 2024 to reduce waste methane emissions:
  • The United States announced it will issue a proposed rule to update its Clean Air Act emission standards for new and existing municipal solid waste landfills in 2025 to cut methane and other harmful landfill gas emissions. This year, the United States also launched the first-ever National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics and announced $117 million in new funding for waste infrastructure grants.
  • The European Union further strengthened waste related legislation, which is expected to significantly reduce methane emissions, adding to the 44% reductions already achieved since 1990. The measures include obligations to collect biodegradable waste separately from 2024, a 10% maximum landfilling target by 2035, and an energy neutrality target by 2045 of urban wastewater treatment plans in towns above 10,000 inhabitants, which will lead to emission reductions of around 3.4MT of CO2 equivalent in 2045.
  • Brazil is finalizing the National Strategy for Organic Waste Management, including plans to reduce food waste. Brazil created new incentives for biomethane produced from waste treatment: the recently approved Fuel of the Future Act establishes mandatory addition of waste biomethane to natural gas, starting at 1% in 2026 and reaching 10%, in addition to a biomethane quality certification system and other incentives.
  • Canada published draft regulations in June 2024 expected to cut landfill methane emissions approximately in half by 2030 from 2019 levels. The new regulations will place limits on landfill surface methane concentrations and venting, and will require the destruction of recovered methane, regular monitoring, and leak repair.
  • The UAE announced new steps to reduce methane emissions from its waste sector, including setting a landfill diversion target of 50 percent diversion by 2025 and 80 percent diversion by 2031. The target will be met by implementing comprehensive national regulations to manage recycling facilities and recyclable waste and minimum fees for landfill disposal among other measures.
  • The United Kingdom highlighted action in the waste sector including reaffirming its commitment to deliver on its flagship policy to eliminate biodegradable waste from landfill from 2028.
  • Chile highlighted the substantial steps the country has been taking including through the Reciclo Orgánicos Program which is expected to reduce 9.5 million tons of CO₂ by 2040 and the National Organic Waste Strategy which sets a goal of moving from 1% to 66% valorization of organic waste by 2040. Currently, an Organic Waste Bill is being processed in the National Congress which would prevent organic waste from reaching landfills.
• The COP 29 Presidency announced more than 20 government participants in the Reducing Organic Waste Declaration which encourages countries to include ambitious waste actions as part of their NDC submissions. Coordinated and supported by UNEP via the CCAC, as well as other GMP implementers within UNEP and other UN agencies, the declaration further encourages using data to drive action in the waste sector, stepping up ambition on finance, and fostering innovative partnerships in the waste sector.
• GMP core implementing partners are supporting expanded waste sector activities. CCAC announced that it is providing financial and expert support for methane abatement in the waste sector in 28 countries, including developing or updating national regulations on methane emissions from organic waste in four countries. IMEO announced its intention to expand the detection component of the Methane Alert and Response System to major methane emission events from landfills in 2025.

Food and agriculture pathway - leadership from governments, international institutions, and the private sector

• Government action to address agricultural methane:
  • In the European Union, the new Industrial and Livestock Rearing Emissions Directive (IED) entered into force in August 2024, extending the scope of the legislation to additional large-scale pig and poultry farms. It also prescribes an assessment, by the end of 2026, of the emissions from the rearing of livestock - particularly cattle – within the Union.
  • The United States Department of Agriculture awarded $115 million in funding in fiscal year 2024 through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program to reduce enteric methane emissions via feed management. NRCS also provided historic investments to farmers and ranchers through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program, including activities that support methane reduction.
• With its flagship Reducing Agricultural Methane Program, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is set to leverage over $900 million to scale up innovative, low-methane agriculture projects, benefiting more than 3 million people directly and impacting an additional 10 million indirectly. Additionally, IFAD is equipping 17 countries with a step-by-step guide and targeted technical assistance to integrate agricultural methane targets into their nationally determined contributions.
• The Enteric Fermentation R&D Accelerator, launched at COP28, has delivered more than $60 million dollars in catalytic research funding to develop cost-effective breakthrough technologies to reduce livestock emissions. Funding has been provided to universities, research centers, and agricultural agencies for research and development of new measurement devices, methane inhibiting feed additives, low methane genetics, and methane-inhibiting vaccines, under the guidance of a science oversight committee.
• Since launching at COP28, the Dairy Methane Action Alliance (DMAA) has expanded to eight food and dairy companies, together worth over $230 billion in annual global sales: Bel, Clover Sonoma, Danone, General Mills, Kraft Heinz, Lactalis USA, Nestle, and Starbucks. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has just published two foundational frameworks for the global dairy sector to integrate methane accounting and disclosure into their sustainability strategies. Along with the launch of these guides, two DMAA members, Bel Group and Lactalis USA, have now publicly disclosed their methane emissions, with the rest of the group committing to disclose in 2025.
• The CCAC is delivering support to 20 countries on methane reduction in the food and agriculture sector including Argentina, Brazil, and Vietnam, and six projects for agricultural methane enhancement in NDCs.

ADVANCING DATA - Groundbreaking new satellites and improved emissions tracking

• GMP participants celebrated new satellite launches and announcements, including:
  • GHGSat announced plans to nearly double its fleet of methane emissions-monitoring satellites by 2026 with the launch of nine new satellites.
  • The Carbon Mapper Coalition launched their first methane-detecting satellite this year to pinpoint and track methane emissions over time, of which detections have already led to successful emissions abatement. Carbon Mapper released over 300 initial global detections across oil and gas, coal, waste and agriculture sectors to their public data portal at COP 29 and is the first third-party notifier applicant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Super Emitter Program.
  • MethaneSAT launched an innovative satellite this year to monitor and quantify methane emissions across the globe with unprecedented precision. At COP 29 it released new data that map and track methane emission rates across several production regions in North America, Central Asia, and South America.
  • The European Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite continues to measure atmospheric methane concentrations on a global scale. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service recently launched methane hotspot monitoring maps that are updated weekly.
• UNEP's IMEO intends to expand the detection component of the Methane Alert and Response System to include major methane emission events from metallurgical coal and landfills in 2025. IMEO continues to deliver open, reliable, and actionable methane emissions data to stakeholders across the globe with the launch of the updated Eye on Methane data platform, which provides data from satellites, companies, and IMEO-led scientific studies to the public and member states - allowing them to track progress on methane commitments.
• The Global Methane Hub announced $10 million to help improve methane data transparency through a collaboration between the Carbon Mapper Coalition and MethaneSAT. This is the first grant of the Hub's Methane Data to Action Campaign, which aims to deliver $300 million in direct and aligned funding to turn observations into mitigation.