Enviro News Asia, London – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has declared that reducing methane emissions is a climate battle the world can win, calling on governments and industry to move decisively on super-pollutants as the global temperature overshoot of 1.5 degrees Celsius draws closer.
“The climate crisis is accelerating, and we are now on course to overshoot the 1.5°C limit in the coming years,” Guterres told delegates at the super-pollutants reception during London Climate Action Week. “Reducing methane is a fight we can win and benefit from in our own time.”
Describing methane as the “super super-pollutant,” Guterres said the invisible, odourless gas is responsible for nearly a third of current global warming. Unlike carbon dioxide, methane breaks down in the atmosphere within a decade or two, meaning aggressive cuts could produce visible temperature relief within a generation.
“Cutting methane is the single fastest brake we can pull on a warming planet,” he said, announcing a newly launched global Call to Action on Methane. He noted that the International Energy Agency estimates around 70 percent of methane from oil and gas can be eliminated using existing technologies at low or no net cost, and that satellite technology now allows methane pollution to be tracked in real time.
Guterres outlined three steps for governments and industry: detecting and fixing every leak while eliminating routine flaring and cold venting; making emissions measurable, reportable, and verifiable; and adopting a science-based global methane standard while building a market for near-zero-methane energy.
He pointed to Norway as a model, saying that if every producer matched its standards, methane from oil and gas would fall by 90 percent. Drawing parallels with the global phase-out of leaded petrol and the healing of the ozone layer, he declared that the age of voluntary action on methane is over.
The Secretary-General noted that more than 70 percent of the reduction potential lies within the G20, much of it within the fossil fuel sector, and that developing countries need finance, technology, and capacity to accelerate action across agriculture, waste, and fossil fuels.
Speaking at a related financing for development forum in London, Guterres said climate adaptation is no longer about preparing for a distant future but about managing risks in real time, calling the extreme heat gripping London a stark demonstration that the climate is changing faster than existing systems and institutions can handle. He called on multilateral development banks, climate funds, donors, insurers, and development partners to join forces to put pre-arranged finance within reach of developing countries.
“Let’s be the generation that pulls the climate emergency brake in time,” Guterres said. (*)
