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A coalition of 50 major oil and gas companies said at COP28 that they would work to cut methane emissions by 80 to 90 percent by the end of the decade, marking a potential breakthrough in the fight against climate change.
The pledge includes ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia's Aramco, among the world's largest oil and gas producers, CNBC reported.
The Biden administration, represented at COP28 by Vice President Kamala Harris, also announced new rules to curb US methane emissions.
Several environmental nonprofits and intergovernmental organizations—including the Environmental Defense Fund and the International Energy Agency—agreed to follow through on the pledge and use satellite technology to provide additional accountability measures.
Methane is an invisible gas that rapidly heats the atmosphere. It is released into the atmosphere in a number of ways, including leakage during fossil fuel production, from the digestive system of cows and from rotting food in landfills. Unlike carbon dioxide, which can stay in the atmosphere for centuries, methane only lasts about a decade.
Ilisa Oko, a senior climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, said cutting methane emissions is the "single fastest opportunity" the world has to "slow the rate of warming."
"Methane is a greenhouse gas. It is the second largest contributor to climate change and accounts for more than a quarter of the warming we are experiencing today," Oko said. "We have the technology available to halve global methane emissions over the next ten years, and if we do, we can slow the rate of global warming by 30%."
Slowing warming could mean fewer destructive storms, wildfires and heat waves. It could also cause the world's ice sheets to melt more slowly, leading to rising sea levels.
"It's definitely going to be a game changer," says Oko. /BGNES
