The Global Methane Pledge launched with the aim of urgently addressing methane emissions, the world’s second most damaging greenhouse gas, is encountering challenges that could compromise its success.
That’s according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which suggests there are critical gaps in funding and governance, hindering the pledge’s ability to deliver.
Methane, over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, is responsible for approximately one-third of global warming to date.
The success of the pledge, as outlined by the EIA, relies on three pillars: monitoring, reporting, and verification; mitigation with concrete targets; and financial and technical assistance and capacity-building.
However, the report suggests that the pledge is falling short in all three areas due to an inadequate governance framework.
The EIA calls for the development of a dedicated fund with transparent allocation procedures to ensure timely and reliable disbursement of funds in the lead-up to 2030.
Additionally, the report advocates for the systemisation of monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions and mitigation initiatives.
EIA Climate Campaigner Kim O’Dowd said: “The Global Methane Pledge is currently not delivering on any of these three pillars because it lacks an adequate and coherent governance framework.
“Methane levels in the atmosphere have continued to rise at unprecedented rates through 2022 and are now more than 2.5 times their pre-industrial levels – but despite this, the funding available for methane mitigation measures represents less than two per cent of all finance made available to combat climate change.”
