Despite the clear urgency to phase out fossil fuels, countries have repeatedly failed to agree on timelines and transition plans to reduce their dependence. The focus remains on curtailing smokestack and tailpipe emissions rather than reducing supply, while industry-backed terms such as “unabated” fossil fuels and “inefficient” subsidies leave the door open for continued fossil fuel production.
Launched at CoP26 in 2021, the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) is the first global initiative focused on reducing emissions of methane - a super-pollutant responsible for about one-third of current warming.
The Regulation on methane emissions reductions in the energy sector (the ‘EU Methane Regulation’) will require the oil, gas and coal industries to reduce methane emissions through a package of monitoring and mitigation measures in the EU and, in the future, across the supply chain.
Fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-gases) are fluorine-containing synthetic compounds with high Global Warming Potentials (GWP). They are the fastest growing group of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and have been regulated in the European Union (EU) since 2006.
Despite this undeniable success, significant greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to almost half a billion tonnes of CO2 are occurring each year, linked to unregulated fluorochemical industrial processes. This briefing explores additional measures that can be taken under the Montreal Protocol to contribute to averting the climate crisis.
The global call to action on climate change is clear – to have any chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C, we must reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to at least 43 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030.1