By Chris Knight

September 18, 2021 - President Joe Biden today urged world leaders to join a "global methane pledge" under which countries would work toward a goal of curbing worldwide emissions of the potent greenhouse gas by at least 30pc below last year's levels by 2030.

The collective methane reduction goal would be "ambitious but realistic," helping to rapidly reduce the rate of global warming while improving public health, Biden said during a virtual meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. The US is working with the EU to persuade other countries to commit to the goal by November's UN Conference of the Parties (COP 26) climate conference in Glasgow, Biden said.

Forum participants included Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian president Joko Widodo, Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga and UK prime minister Boris Johnson. China, Russia, India and Germany sent special envoys and other high-ranking officials to the forum.

Methane emissions alone have accounted for about 0.5° C of the 1.1° C in warming observed since the pre-industrial period, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in its sixth assessment report this summer.

Oil and gas were responsible for 70mn metric tonnes (t) of methane last year, about 5pc of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, according to IEA estimates. Other major methane sources include agriculture, landfills, livestock and coal mining.

The US and EU are seeking controls on methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The Biden administration next month plans to propose regulations for new and existing facilities, while the Democratic-led US Congress is debating a $1,500/t fee on methane and funding to cap leaking oil and gas wells. The European Commission, which intends to adopt oil and gas methane regulations by the end of the year, declined to comment.

Environmentalists cheered the new methane goal. Reducing methane is the "single fastest, most effective strategy we have to slow the rate of warming," US-based nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp said. Methane has an atmospheric half-life of less than 10 years, so cutting emissions can deliver a large, near-term drop in warming, scientists say.

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres urged industrialized nations to fulfill their pledges to offer $100bn/yr to help developing countries hit their climate targets. The world is on a "catastrophic pathway" to 2.7° C of warming without deep emission cuts, he said, and there is a "high risk of failure" at COP 26. It is particularly urgent for countries to curtail the construction of coal-fired power plants, he said.