EU Parliament approves law to reduce methane emissions from energy sector

The European Parliament has adopted a provisional political agreement with EU countries on a new law to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector. The regulation aims to cut 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. The agreement requires Members states to set up and make publicly available an inventory of all closed or abandoned underground coal mines in their territory or under their jurisdiction that have not been operated for more than 70 years, to measure their methane emissions and to report yearly source-level methane emissions data to the competent authorities. The law now also has to be adopted by the Council, before being published in the EU Official Journal and entering into force 20 days later.

The EU has 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.