Today, the Australian Government took a significant step towards improving the integrity of Australia's emissions reporting by committing to creating an expert panel to advise on fixing under-reporting methane pollution and removing outdated estimate-based methods for calculating methane emissions.
This comes after Healthy Futures, one of Australia's leading health and climate advocacy organisation, delivered an open letter signed by over ten peak health bodies, representing over 350 000 health professionals, urging the government to strengthen methane regulations.
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas with over 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, is a major contributor to climate change and a significant public health threat. The health professionals' letter emphasised the urgent need to address methane emissions from the coal and gas sector, highlighting the respiratory risks associated with ground-level ozone, a precursor to smog, and the public health emergency posed by climate change. Coal and gas companies pollute far more methane than they currently report, and addressing this discrepancy in transparency and accountability is an important first step.
"Healthy Futures is pleased with the Government's commitment to improving methane measurement and reporting," said Bronwyn McDonald, Campaign Manager at Healthy Futures. "This is a crucial first step, but we urge the government to go further and implement a national methane target and methane action plan focusing on abatement as soon as possible. We also have serious concerns about the ongoing approvals for new coal and gas projects, especially when considering the likely extent of under-reporting of methane pollution from mining".
Health professionals across Australia are deeply concerned about the health impacts of climate change and the role of methane in accelerating the crisis. "Methane from coal and gas extraction contributes significantly to climate change, which is the greatest global health threat of our time," said Dr. Harry Jennens, GP. "We need abatement of methane pollution to protect public health."
The Healthy Futures open letter called for stronger methane reduction measures to protect public health, including accurate measurement, reporting, and verification laws, ensuring transparency and accountability in methane emissions and a National Methane Action Plan to strategically address methane emissions across sectors and including national methane targets in line with international commitments.
The Government's full and principled acceptance of 24 of the 25 recommendations from the Climate Change Authority signals a positive step towards greater climate action. However, to achieve the necessary emissions reductions and safeguard public health, the government must build on this momentum and implement comprehensive regulations that actually reduce methane emissions from coal and gas production as soon as possible.
