US, EU commit to reduce methane pollution

Washington, D.C. - Today President Joe Biden and leaders from the European Union committed to reduce methane pollution by 30 percent by 2030, a positive near-term step toward combating the climate crisis. However, much more can and must be done to reduce these and other harmful pollution from the oil and gas industry.

Methane is a greenhouse gas at least 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, and scientists across the globe are increasingly alarmed by growing levels of methane in the atmosphere. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently warned, global methane levels are now at their highest level in 800,000 years, and “strong, rapid and sustained reductions” in methane are critical to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Pollutants associated with methane are harmful to human health, causing respiratory problems for nearby communities. 

The oil and gas industry is a leading source of U.S. methane pollution, which leaks when gas is extracted through fracking, transported in pipelines, and burned in power plants, buildings and petrochemical facilities. In the coming months, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose strengthened methane safeguards for both new and existing oil and gas infrastructure, building upon standards the agency issued in 2016. While a 30 percent reduction is a step in the right direction, evidence has shown that up to 65% of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector can be eliminated by 2025 at low cost through existing technology, and Sierra Club and its partners strongly urge EPA to adopt this level of protection in the forthcoming standards.

In addition to methane, burning gas is an enormous and growing source of carbon dioxide that imperils our climate and puts the country’s climate goals at risk. Utilities are planning to build up to 250 gas power plants and 20 new or expanded liquefied gas export terminals in the coming years, and a new building is hooked up to gas once a minute across the country.

Industrial agriculture is another major source of methane, and the gas industry has recently begun partnering with factory farms to capture methane from animal waste ponds and add it to pipeline systems. A recent report by Sierra Club and Earthjustice highlighted multiple ways these biogas projects are poor alternatives to clean energy and incompatible with long-term decarbonization efforts.

Kelly Sheehan Martin, Senior Director of Energy Campaigns at the Sierra Club, issued the following statement:

“Every day, the oil and gas industry makes the climate crisis worse by leaking dangerous methane pollution. Global targets are a good first step, but this is not enough: the real solution to the climate crisis is stopping the expansion of the oil and gas industry and swiftly transitioning to clean energy that is accessible to all. President Biden must commit to even stronger methane reduction targets, stop subsidizing fossil fuels and make clean, renewable energy available to all of our families and communities, especially those already overburdened by harmful pollution.”