United States - GMP Methane Action Update (September 2024)
Since Day One in office, President Biden has taken historic action to dramatically reduce U.S. and global methane emissions. Domestically, the Biden-Harris administration is implementing the 2021 U.S. Methane Action Plan that takes a whole-of-government approach to cut consumer costs, protect workers and communities, maintain and create high-quality, union-friendly jobs, and promote U.S. innovation and manufacturing of critical new technologies essential to tackling the climate crisis. Internationally, the U.S. is working to implement the Global Methane Pledge which President Biden launched alongside European Commission President von der Leyen at COP26 in Glasgow.
The primary sources of U.S. methane emissions are the U.S. oil and natural gas industry which accounts for 30% of total U.S. methane emissions, landfills which account for 15%, coal mining which accounts for 6%, and agriculture which accounts for 35% of U.S. methane emissions (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates of 2021 emissions).
Key actions and achievements to date
In 2023 alone, the Biden-Harris Administration took nearly 100 actions to dramatically reduce methane emissions under the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan. These actions included plugging leaks and regulating emissions in the oil and gas sector, reclaiming abandoned coal mines, reducing food waste and agricultural emissions, investing in cleaner buildings and industrial processes, and launching innovative technologies to detect and halt large methane emissions. Notably, the United States has finalized standards to sharply reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations, which will reduce over 1.5 Gt of CO2 equivalent and achieve a nearly 80% reduction below future methane emissions expected without the rule. The United States will also issue a proposed rule to update its Clean Air Act emission standards for new and existing municipal solid waste landfills in 2025 to cut methane and other harmful landfill gas emissions.
Internationally, the United States has led efforts to increase over levels of methane finance, including through President Biden’s Methane Finance Sprint, which catalyzed over $1 billion in new grant funding in 2023 to help developing countries reduce methane across sectors. The United States is engaging international financial institutions to implement funding from the Methane Finance Sprint, including by enhancing methane reduction outcomes of agriculture and waste development programs, activating the Global Flaring and Methane Reduction Partnership at the World Bank, and enhancing funding commitments to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and International Methane Emissions Observatory.
Plans for the future
The United States will continue to drive forward ambitious methane action domestically and internationally. Importantly, thanks to U.S. leadership in driving consensus, all parties agreed as part of the Global Stocktake outcome at COP28 to include all greenhouse gases – including methane – in their 2035 Nationally Determined Contributions due in early 2025.
