As we meet here in Baku for COP29, 2024 is on track to surpass 2023 as the warmest on record and climate change is carving a deadly trail of destruction throughout the world.
The next round of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is our last chance to set a course that avoids overshooting 1.5°C and minimizes further climate horrors. Action on super pollutants, including methane, is essential for this course: to slow global temperature rise, buy time for decarbonization to show effect and reduce the need for expensive adaptation efforts.
We have the Global Methane Pledge. We have the scaffolding for action – built from plans, roadmaps, policies, money and transparency. Sixty-five countries are being supported to tackle methane emissions, with US$28.5 million from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Trust Fund. But atmospheric methane concentrations are still rising. They reached 265 per cent of pre-industrial levels in 2023.
So, we must commit to the ‘triple A’: higher ambition, more action and strengthened alliances, such as the CCAC. We can build on the strong start the methane community has made. To show what is possible, let me give an example.
UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory alerted Nigeria and energy company Eni to a major methane leak through the Methane Alert and Response System. Nigeria had already done a lot of work, backed by the CCAC: from a national plan on short-lived climate pollutants to setting up a regulatory body and adopting regulation. The company quickly fixed the leak, avoiding annual emissions that would amount to around 800,000 cars being driven for a year.
There are over a thousand such cases identified that could be addressed. The new Fossil Fuel Regulatory Programme of the CCAC will support 20 countries to devise and enforce regulation. And over 140 oil and gas companies have joined UNEP’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 to measure and reduce their methane emissions.
The potential for quick gains and for systemic change is clear. The will to act is increasingly there. The role of UNEP as a core supporter of implementing the pledge is clear. Now we must do much more, much faster, in a more united manner, across all methane-relevant sectors.
To do so, financing must grow. The CCAC received more than US$650 million in funding requests in 2024, with only US$14 million to allocate. We celebrated the Finance Sprint outcomes last year, but to meet the estimated need of US$48 billion by 2030, annual flows must increase at least 3.5 times.
The next round of NDCs is a chance to do more and send investors a strong signal. The CCAC is supporting over 30 countries with these updates and has released guidance on including super pollutants in NDCs – which would also bring benefits for health, jobs and economic development by improving air quality. Nations must follow this guidance.
Of course, action in NDCs must go beyond the oil and gas sector, which is why UNEP partnered with the COP29 Presidency on the Reducing Methane Organic Waste Declaration. And why the CCAC is supporting countries to include ambitious waste actions in their NDCs and supports regulation to unlock private sector action. But we also need innovation. And more transparency – which is why the revamped Eye on Methane data platform is being launched today to help track progress.
Friends,
Action on methane is critical to slow global temperature rise. It is fast-acting and cost-effective. The tools are there to turn the screw on methane emissions. So, I call on everyone to commit to the triple A of action, ambition and alliances. And deliver huge benefits for people and planet.
