US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry announced on Monday 11 October, during a virtual ministerial meeting aimed at mobilising more support for the initiative launched by Washington and the European Union on 18 September, that 24 more countries had joined the pledge to collectively reduce global methane emissions by at least 30%, compared to 2020 levels, by 2030.
These countries (Canada, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federated States of Micronesia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Guinea, Israel, japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malta, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Rwanda, Sweden and Togo) join Argentina, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Mexico and the UK.
In a statement, the European Commission said that with these new additions, nine of the world’s top 20 methane emitters are now participating in the commitment, representing about 30% of global methane emissions and 60% of the global economy.
Implementing the commitment would reduce global warming by at least 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2050.
Although there is less methane in the atmosphere than CO2, it has a global warming potential 28 times greater than the latter over a 100-year period and 84 times greater over a 20-year period, making it the second most important greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.
Calling on as many countries as possible to join the initiative, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, said: “If we act together, we can really make a difference because rapidly reducing global methane emissions is the single fastest strategy we have to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius”. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)