A draft Regulation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector gained political agreement by the European Parliament and Council on 15 November 2023. This means that, barring the formality of final sign off, the new legislation will be in force in 2024 and will open up a legal divergence with the UK’s approach to tackling methane emissions.

Methane, which is a far more powerful greenhouse gas (and has a global warming potential of 28 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years[1]), is emitted from several main sources: agriculture, fossil fuel production, and waste.

The new Regulation focuses on the oil, gas and coal sectors, and amongst several things, requires the monitoring and reporting of methane emissions, the prevention and minimisation of methane emissions from fossil fuel operations, a requirement to plan for detecting leaks and to make repairs immediately after detection; and prohibit (in most circumstances) venting and routine flaring. Unfortunately, the EU’s regulation doesn’t include the agriculture sector (something that IEEP wrote about previously), a huge contributor to methane emissions.

Whilst the UK does not have equivalent legislation, a UK methane memorandum sets out what the UK is doing to minimise methane emissions from the major sources mentioned above. It also points for example to OGUK’s 2021 Methane Action Plan which sets out commitments to achieve the World Bank’s ‘Zero Routine Flaring before 2030’ initiative to measure and validate ‘where practicable’ methane emissions.

Michael Nicholson, Head of UK Environmental Policy at IEEP UK commented: “A significant amount of UK methane emissions have been reduced in recent years due to a significant decline in the coal industry and decreasing amounts of biodegradable waste going to landfill but nevertheless methane emissions will remain a concern and an area that Government Ministers will need to tackle to ensure the UK reaches its net zero target. The UK should consider following suit and turning its aims on reducing methane emissions into legally binding commitments”.    

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash.

[1] See Explanatory Memorandum, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/ALL/?uri=CELEX%3A52021PC0805