Methane emissions: best practices in MRV and abatement in the agriculture, energy and waste sectors

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and an ozone precursor, harmful to human health and the environment. Human activity is responsible for around 60% of methane released into the atmosphere, it is released as a by-product of some farming and waste treatment practices, as well as through fossil fuel extraction, transportation, and consumption. Unlike CO2, which takes around 100 years to breakdown in the atmosphere, methane breaks down after roughly 12 years, therefore if methane emissions are reduced it can have a short-term impact on temperature pathways. Estimates suggest that anthropogenic methane emissions could be responsible for around 0,5 degrees Celsius of warming by 2050.

With the European Green Deal, the Commission has made the fight against climate change one of its flagships priorities and has set the objective of reaching climate neutrality by 2050. In this context, the Directorate-General for Energy is currently engaged in benchmarking all sectors for methane measurements, reporting and verification (MRV) and assessing tentative ideas for abatement.

This stakeholder meeting aim to collect information on best practices in methane (MRV) and abatement. The discussions will be based on case studies and best practices from the agriculture, energy and waste sectors within the EU, but also in China, India, the United States, Russia and Brazil.

Participants who wish to make a short presentation during the event (max. 3 minutes) must send a request to ener-cross-sector-methaneec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ener-cross-sector-methane[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) including a one-pager with the content of the proposed intervention by 29 May at the latest. Please note that all received contributions will be made publicly available on our website.

Contact: ener-cross-sector-methaneec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ener-cross-sector-methane[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)