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Cutting methane emissions in Europe and increasing European global leadership in methane mitigation
Our Proposition
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The Methane Matters coalition of experienced European non-governmental organizations aims to significantly reduce methane emissions in the relevant agriculture, waste and energy sectors by 2030 and, at the same time, strengthen the EU’s leadership role in implementing the global methane commitment.
Methane (CH4) is a colourless and odourless gas and occurs in nature as the main component of natural gas, on the seabed and in permafrost, as well as in swamps and bogs. It is produced by natural and anthropogenic biological processes during the decomposition or fermentation of organic Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP) and warms the planet over 80 times more than CO2 over a 20-year period. More than half of global methane emissions are caused by humans, primarily through agriculture (animal husbandry, land use), the waste sector (landfills and wastewater) and the energy sector (extraction and transport of fossil fuels), which have already contributed to a gross temperature increase of 0.5°C.1
Main Sources of Methane Emission
The agricultural sector is responsible for around 54 per cent of all man-made methane emissions in the EU. There are already a number of cost-effective and immediately implementable solutions to reduce emissions. These include switching to a healthier and more sustainable diet, as well as reduced and improved consumption of meat and dairy products and technical measures in livestock farming.
The waste sector is the second largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions in the EU and contributes to around 27 per cent of all such emissions. The main strategies to reduce solid waste emissions are reduction, source separation and treatment of organic waste.
Around 20 per cent of global methane emissions are produced during the processing of gas, the extraction and processing of crude oil and coal and by fossil gas used in the petrochemical industry for the production of plastics. At EU level, excluding emissions associated with EU imports of oil, gas and coal, the figure is 17 per cent. However, a new analysis by the IEA shows that methane emissions from the energy sector are around 70 per cent higher than previously assumed.
Selected News and Releases
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News
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Releases
Berlin, 10 April 2024: Climate-damaging methane emissions from opencast lignite mining in Germany are massively underestimated by the responsible regulatory authorities and in the German government’s greenhouse gas inventories and projection reports. […]
The vote in the European Parliament yesterday signalled victory for lawmakers seeking to hold textile producers accountable to cover the costs for the waste their products generate. […]
Members of the European Parliament voted on the Waste Framework Directive to raise legally-binding food waste reduction targets to 20% for processing and manufacturing, and 40% for retail, restaurants, and households. […]
The International Energy Agency (IEA) today presented the latest data on methane emissions with the annual update of the “Global Methane Tracker”. […]
Ahead of the EU bio-waste separate collection mandate in January 2024, Life Biobest’s Deliverable 5.2 identifies the gaps in the regulatory framework and systemic barriers obstructing efficient bio-waste management with high capture rates of high-quality material. […]
Released for public dissemination by the Life Biobest project, this report consists of a homogenised dataset on municipal bio-waste management. Originating from an investigation into the current status of data collection and reporting in the European Union, the publication contains data on basic information and boundary conditions for bio-waste collection and treatment for nearly all 27 EU Member States […]
We, a coalition of non-profit organisations working on methane mitigation, are writing in response to the recent communication on Europe’s 2040 climate target and path to climate neutrality by 2050 building a sustainable, just, and prosperous society. While we welcome the ambitious target of a net reduction of greenhouse gas by 90%, we are concerned at the removal of the proposed 30% reduction target for non-C02 emissions […]
65 non-profit and business organisations from 22 EU countries call on the European Parliament to introduce ambitious, legally binding targets to halve food waste by 2030 in the ongoing revision of the EU Waste Framework Directive (WFD). […]
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG), in excess of 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period. About 60 per cent of methane emissions come from human activities in the agriculture (40 per cent), energy (35 per cent) and waste sectors (20 per cent). […]
Recognizing that, in order to ensure that the global community meets the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C, significant methane emission reductions must be achieved globally by 2030. […]
In an age where information flows freely, misinformation is a potent force that can shape public perception and influence elections, corporate and political decisions. This study is a deep dive into information and misinformation on social media around production and consumption of animal products. […]
Addressing methane emissions is essential to limiting the impacts of the climate crisis and keeping the global temperature increase under 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement. Methane has extremely powerful effects on the climate in the short term, so cutting methane emissions now represents our best chance to put a brake on temperature rises […]
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