Dispatches From Warsaw: New Partnership Between Governments and Industry to Reduce Methane

As the U.N. climate talks struggle forward in Warsaw, Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy on climate change, announced that the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) will launch a partnership with oil and gas companies to reduce the potent greenhouse gas methane.

It is “really gratifying to get into a context where the order of the day is action,” Stern said.

The announcement is important for addressing a huge source of climate change, given that methane emissions account for approximately 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally.  In the U.S., oil and gas systems represent the single largest source of methane emissions — worldwide, they represent the largest source of methane emissions after agriculture.

Reductions in methane emissions are both economically and technically possible.  Many of the emissions reduction options identified by the Natural Gas STAR program, for example, are low-cost and have a payback period of within three years.

Dispatches From Warsaw: New Partnership Between Governments and Industry to Reduce Methane