In Baku, Azerbaijan, on Wednesday 13 November, as part of COP29, the European Commission and the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) announced a new partnership to accelerate transitioning away from fossil fuels “in a just, orderly and equitable manner”.
This partnership aims to strengthen coordination between producers and consumers and support just transitions in oil and gas-dependent developing countries.
The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, launched at COP26 in 2021, brings together a number of governments to work together to phase out oil and gas production and find ways to meet the 1.5°C limit set by the Paris Agreement. It is linked to the BOGA fund, which aims to mobilise financing for fair transitions on a large scale.
Reduction in methane emissions. The day before, on 12 November, the EU, with the support of Canada, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the International Energy Agency (IEA) and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs), also launched a roadmap to help achieve the collective objective of reducing methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030.
The Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap aims to minimise these emissions along the oil and gas supply chain by providing a model for cooperation between fossil fuel importing and exporting countries, as explained by the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra, at the launch event.
“For the EU, it’s clear: we will only be able to tackle methane emissions effectively if we work together across global supply chains with all stakeholders”, he explained.
The target of reducing global anthropogenic methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels is part of the Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26 by the EU and the United States and supported by more than 150 countries.
The new roadmap defines a series of concrete actions, such as a monitoring, reporting and verification system based on the principles of the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0).
It also includes a plan to reduce emissions from existing assets, “to provide a clear timeline, investment plan and human resources needed”, as the European Commission states in a press release.
The roadmap also calls for the necessary investment in emission reduction projects in producer countries to be guaranteed, in collaboration with the operators concerned.
“The World Bank could be one of the key financial partners for developing countries through the new Global Flaring and Methane Reduction trust fund, and private investors may provide capital through sustainability instruments”, the roadmap statement specifies.
As part of this new roadmap, the first examples of partnerships being implemented will be presented at COP30 in 2025 in Brazil.
To see the statement, go to https://aeur.eu/f/ea0 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)