Global Methane Pledge - Biden Signs Up 90 Countries To Major Drive To Slash Emissions

Joe Biden has unveiled a multinational plan to control methane, regarded by the US administration as the single most potent way to combat the climate crisis in the short term.

- Patrick Wintour and Fiona Harvey

Leading an alliance of 90 countries, including for the first time Brazil, the president set out new regulatory measures to limit global methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by the end of the decade.

The alliance includes two-thirds of the global economy and half of the top 30 major methane emitter countries. China, India, and Russia have not joined the pact known as the global methane pledge.

The pledge was first announced in September but Biden’s officials have since been working hard to increase the number of signatories and the momentum behind the pledge. The detailed US proposals may prove to be one of the lasting successes of Cop26.

Many of the regulatory measures do not require congressional approval, and so give Biden some short-term effective measures to which he can point. The oil and gas industry is reckoned to be responsible for 30% of methane emissions in the US.