COP 29 Targets Methane, Non-CO2 GHGs in Climate Push

The United States, People's Republic of China, and Azerbaijan today convened a Summit to accelerate actions to cut emissions of methane and other non-CO₂ greenhouse gases, which account for half of today's climate change but receive far less than half of global climate attention. These super pollutant greenhouse gases-including methane, hydrofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, and tropospheric ozone-are dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. Reducing emissions of these super pollutants is the fastest way to tackle climate change and a critical complement to reducing carbon dioxide to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

This year, partners announced:

• Finance: Over $2 billion in total international grant funding mobilized in the last three years to tackle super pollutants, and billions in additional investment deployed.
• Policy: New policy and regulatory steps to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas and landfill sectors including by five of the top 20 waste sector methane emitters.
• Science: The launch of the first-ever Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment, which demonstrates that global N₂O emissions can be reduced by 40 percent, and new efforts to track and reduce the climate impacts of tropospheric ozone, the third-largest contributor to climate change.

Tackling all greenhouse gases in 2035 NDC targets and net zero targets

At the Summit, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Patricia Espinosa and International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol called on Parties to the Paris Agreement to heed the COP 28 Global Stocktake call to deliver 1.5C-aligned 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets covering all greenhouse gases, and to set net zero targets covering all greenhouse gases.

Mobilizing finance to tackle super pollutants

Building on the over $1 billion in grant funding for methane mitigation announced at COP 28 as part of President Biden's Methane Finance Sprint, multilateral development banks, philanthropy, and governments announced new finance to tackle super pollutants:

• In total, governments and philanthropy announced nearly $500 million in new global grant funding for methane abatement in 2024, bringing total international grant funding mobilized for super pollutant mitigation to over $2 billion in the last three years.
• The European Commission announced an additional 105.6 million Euros ($114 million) in grant funding for methane and congratulated the European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for deploying over 2 billion Euros ($2.1 billion) and 350 million Euros ($385 million) respectively to finance methane reduction projects in the last year.
• World Bank President Ajay Banga launched a Blueprint for methane reduction at COP 28 and committed to launching 15 national programs that aim to slash methane emissions over 18 months. The World Bank Blueprint could cut up to 10 million tons of methane overall. All 15 national programs are now online, and the Bank is supporting countries through more than 40 projects to scale up methane emission reduction, with a focus on high-emitting areas like livestock, rice, waste and sanitation, and oil and gas. These projects are already helping countries to mobilize billions of dollars in International Development Association and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development financing and are supported by the Global Methane Reduction Platform for Development (CH4D) and the Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership (GFMR).
• International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced that its flagship Reducing Agricultural Methane Program (RAMP) aims to leverage up to $900 million to scale up innovative, low-methane agriculture projects. This initiative is expected to benefit over 3 million people directly and impact an additional 10 million indirectly. Additionally, IFAD introduced the Methane Reduction Guidebook for NDC 3.0, providing countries with a step-by-step guide for incorporating methane reduction strategies into their NDCs. This is complemented by targeted technical assistance to support 17 countries in designing their updated NDCs.

Enhancing national policy and ambition to cut super pollutants

At the Summit, governments announced new policy and regulatory steps to reduce super pollutants including:

• United States Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta announced that the United States finalized its rule to implement the oil and gas Waste Emissions Charge which will incentivize reduction of harmful and wasteful methane pollution in the oil and gas sector. The United States also 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. The United States released its updated National Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan, which showcases more than $18 billion in funding for methane action announced and disbursed in 2024, and reinforced its intention to propose updated emissions standards for municipal solid waste landfills before the end of 2025, as required under the Clean Air Act. This year, the United States also finalized a rule to reduce leaks and promote reuse of existing HFCs, which will help the country achieve an 85% HFC phasedown by 2036. In 2024, U.S. companies also announced new actions that will reduce overall industrial emissions of N₂O by over 50% by early 2025 from 2020 levels.
• China Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin shared the actions that China has engaged in over the past year since the release of the Methane Emissions Control Action Plan, including detailing and implementing measures, building fundamental capacities, enhancing the policy and standards framework, and actively promoting international exchange and collaboration. In particular, China is planning to lower the emission limit from the current 30 percent to 8 percent in the latest version of the Emissions Standards of Coalbed Methane. In addition, the Chinese government continues to improve market mechanisms, including to address methane, and Chinese enterprises are investing significantly to carry out methane emission control actions.
• Azerbaijan COP 29 President Mukhtar Babayev showcased the Reducing Organic Waste Declaration to catalyze urgent action to improve waste management and reduce methane emissions in the waste sector in this decade. SOCAR President Rovshan Najaf announced that SOCAR will achieve near zero methane emissions (less than 0.2 percent intensity) in upstream operations, has developed a one-stop solution for methane monitoring, and has joined the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP2.0).
• Republic of Korea Special Presidential Envoy for COP29 Hong Sik CHO launched ROK's $20 million ASEAN-Korea Cooperation on Methane Mitigation Project to support methane reduction and monitoring with ASEAN countries. ROK also advanced efforts to implement its 2030 Methane Reduction Roadmap to cut national methane emissions by over 30 percent by 2030 from 2020 levels.
• United Arab Emirates Ambassador Majid Al Suwaidi announced new steps to reduce methane emissions from UAE's 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 to limit random waste disposal among other measures.
• Kazakhstan Special Representative for International Environmental Cooperation Zulfiya Suleimenova announced that Kazakhstan will strive to complete the development of regulatory acts on methane, aiming to reduce non-emergency methane venting and promote leak detection and repair in the oil and gas sector, as well as to finalize the National Program for Methane Emissions Reduction by COP 30 in 2025.
• European Commission Commissioner Hoekstra unveiled the Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap to enhance political support for reducing emissions from internationally traded fossil fuels. The European Commission announced strengthened waste-related legislation including new measures to further reduce emissions from landfill and wastewater treatment plants. The European Commission also began implementing the EU Methane Regulation, which officially entered into force in August 2024.
• United Kingdom Secretary of State Ed Miliband announced £5 million ($6.5 million) of new funding in support of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition's Fossil Fuel Regulatory Program, highlighted action in the waste sector including reaffirming commitment to deliver on its flagship policy to eliminate biodegradable waste from landfill from 2028, and showcased a Methane Action Plan recently published by the Environment Agency, the main environmental regulator for England.
• Brazil Deputy National Secretary Aloisio Melo announced that Brazil's National Climate Change Plan will address for the first time specific targets and actions to reduce methane and other short-lived climate pollutants. Brazil also showcased its recently approved Air Quality Policy Act to update national monitoring systems and air quality standards.
• Canada Minister of Environment Stephan Guilbeault showcased Canada's draft regulations expected to cut landfill methane emissions approximately in half by 2030 from 2019 levels. Canada also showcased its draft regulations to cap emissions from oil and gas in upstream and liquefied natural gas production, providing an incentive for the sector to further reduce methane emissions.
• Nigeria Special Presidential Envoy on Climate Change Dr. Nkiruka Chidia Maduekwe showcased Nigeria's commitment to continue to champion the reduction and abatement of the super pollutants. Nigeria is collaborating with the UNEP and EU to drive the Nigeria Methane Emissions Reduction Pilot Programme (NIMERP) which is expected to expand methane abatement opportunities in the agriculture and waste sector in support of increased ambition in NDC3.0.

Advancing new science and adopting innovative strategies for super pollutant monitoring and mitigation

Alongside the Summit, partners announced:

• The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched the first ever Global N₂O Assessment, followed by a commitment by the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition to advance scientific understanding in 2025 of opportunities to reduce the climate impacts of tropospheric ozone-an air pollutant and greenhouse gas that is formed in the atmosphere from interactions of other gases, and which is the third-largest contributor to climate change after CO₂ and methane. UNEP's International Methane Emissions Observatory 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.
• Inter IKEA Group announced completing an analysis of their climate transition plans for sectors such as transport and energy using innovative and first-of-its-kind reporting methods for emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), key gases that lead to the formation of the tropospheric ozone. The analysis projects the climate transition plans will result in an over 50 percent reduction in NMVOC emissions by 2030 from 2023 levels.
• MethaneSAT and the Carbon Mapper Coalition launched cutting-edge methane-detecting satellites this year that are already producing data and are poised to track emissions across the globe, providing the data to identify and deploy solutions, and GHGSat announced plans to nearly double their fleet by 2026 with the launch of nine new satellites.