A COP31 summit in Antalya, Türkiye on Thursday, November 12 secured more than US$480 million in new philanthropic funding to accelerate cuts to methane and other powerful greenhouse gases, as government leaders, ministers, international organisations and climate foundations stepped up calls for binding action, Just Energy News and Africa Science News reported.
Source: Just Energy News
The commitments were announced at the Leaders-Level Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases Summit, held during the COP31 climate conference. US$480 million is 48 crore US dollars — yaani a funding package aimed at the gases that warm the planet fastest in the near term, rather than at carbon dioxide alone.
Source: Africa Science News
"Breathing space" — the UN climate chief's case
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell told the summit that methane reduction is one of the fastest, cheapest and most effective ways to limit global heating in the near term. "In a world of suffocating disasters, action on methane offers breathing space," he said, while warning that methane cuts must go hand in hand with rapid cuts in carbon dioxide.
Source: Just Energy News
Stiell said around 70 percent of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry could be eliminated using existing technologies, much of it at low or no net cost, and that as much as 75 percent of potential methane reductions in the solid waste sector could generate financial savings. Citing UN Environment Programme and Climate and Clean Air Coalition findings, he said every dollar invested in key super-pollutant solutions could generate US$15 in economic benefits, and pointed to 167 billion cubic metres of gas flared globally every year — an estimated US$54 billion in lost energy value. "That's money going up in smoke," he said.
Source: Just Energy News
Seven countries join the Accelerator; SF6 enters the frame
The summit also announced US$25 million in additional funding for the Super Pollutant Country Action Accelerator — an investment the United Kingdom announced at the meeting — with seven countries joining the initiative: Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Fiji, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines and Uzbekistan. The expansion doubles the programme's reach to 14 countries, with a target of supporting 30 countries by 2030. Australia also endorsed a UK-led statement on drastically reducing methane emissions across the global fossil fuel sector.
Source: Africa Science News
Germany highlighted a new Global SF6 Pledge to reduce emissions of sulphur hexafluoride, an extremely potent greenhouse gas used in electricity transmission equipment, with support announced by the United Kingdom and the European Commission; the EU also announced plans to launch a global collaborative process on SF6 as electricity grids expand.
Source: Just Energy News
World Bank, IEA and Brazil add weight
World Bank President Ajay Banga told the meeting the institution had expanded its country-led methane reduction programmes from 15 to 45 countries, targeting an estimated 11 million tonnes of methane reductions while benefiting more than 160 million people — citing improved livestock practices in Brazil that raised milk yields on small family farms by 10 percent while cutting emissions by six percent, and gas-leak repairs in Uzbekistan that cut methane by about 32,000 tonnes a year. The International Energy Agency estimates at least 75 percent of oil and gas methane emissions could be eliminated with existing technology, and its executive director Fatih Birol said about 200 billion cubic metres of natural gas could be recovered annually through steps such as repairing leaking pipelines and preventing flaring.
Source: Africa Science News
Norway's climate and environment minister Sigrun Gjerløw Aasland said global oil and gas methane emissions could fall by about 90 percent if producers matched Norway's methane intensity, while Brazil called for methane reductions of at least 25 percent by 2035 and 40 percent by 2040, insisting methane action must complement, not replace, deep carbon dioxide cuts. Speakers also cautioned against shifting transition costs onto smallholder farmers.
Source: Africa Science News
Stiell noted that more than 90 percent of parties to the Paris Agreement — representing around three-quarters of global methane emissions — have already included methane measures in their latest national climate plans, but that only 0.5 percent of the climate finance allocated to emissions reduction in 2023 went to super pollutants. "Super pollutants are a supersize opportunity. And it's low hanging — for the climate, for economies, and for human health," he said.
Source: Just Energy News
What happens next: COP31 negotiations in Antalya run until November 20. The test of Thursday's pledges will be whether they turn into enforceable regulations and financed projects — the shift from voluntary commitments to binding rules that speaker after speaker at the summit demanded.