Towards a Methane Abatement Framework

Coordinating action in the energy sector.

With the climate clock ticking, translating political commitments into implementation has never been more urgent. Without rapid action, the window to avoid the worst impacts of warming is closing fast.

Cutting methane emissions represents one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to slow the rate of global warming in the near-term, making it a critical lever for immediate climate action. The Global Methane Pledge (GMP), launched at the 26th Conference of the Parties (CoP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2021 and now endorsed by 160 countries, sets out a collective commitment to reduce methane across the waste, energy and agriculture sectors by 30 per cent by 2030. The GMP sparked a surge in political attention on methane and mobilised a community of actors committed to abating emissions. However, halfway through the timeline, progress remains uneven. While membership continues to grow, most countries have yet to translate their commitment into concrete action.

A key challenge delaying implementation is that methane continues to be treated as a single, homogenous issue. In reality, the mitigation measures needed are very different across sectors. The tools required in the fossil fuel sector are not the same as those needed in agriculture or waste, yet many of the conversations still operate at a high level, without sector-specific spaces for technical exchange and regulatory coordination.

This lack of granularity slows progress – governments and stakeholders cannot share best practices, identify feasible interventions or design and align policies tailored to the specific challenges of each sector. Without these spaces, the GMP risks remaining a broad political objective rather than a driver of implementation and, ultimately, mitigation. Attention must now shift from pledges to regime-building, developing the rules, governance and accountability frameworks that can support implementation for each sector.

This briefing highlights how the UK-led panel of governments, established through the CoP30 statement on “Drastically reducing methane emissions in the Global Fossil Fuel Sector” can provide the coordinating structure that is missing and evolve from a political signal into a driver of action.