Environment and Climate Change Committee
Methane: keep up the momentum
1st Report of Session 2024-25 - published 10 December 2024 - HL Paper 45
Contents
Box 1: Understanding methane as a greenhouse gas
Figure 3: Global Monthly Methane
Box 2: The Global Methane Pledge
Chapter 2: International action
Figure 4: Countries that have signed the Global Methane Pledge as of 2024 (marked in red)
Figure 5: 2024 Methane emissions: top five emitters and the UK compared to the rest of the world
Figure 6: Historic methane emissions of top five emitting countries and the UK, 1850–2023
Figure 7: UK territorial emissions of methane in megatonnes (Mt) CO2e
Figure 8: UK methane emissions by sector
Table 1: UK methane emissions by source, 2022
Sharing best practice and technological solutions
Chapter 3: Measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification
Box 3: Definitions of bottom-up and top-down
Figure 10: Map of the UK DECC (tall tower) network
Improving top-down verification
Improving bottom-up assessments
Table 2: Methane measurement technologies
Figure 11: Illustrative diagram of ruminant methane production
Box 5: Agricultural methane sources
Figure 12: UK methane emissions from agriculture (MtCH4) 1990–2020, UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Government communication and strategy
Box 6: Border adjustment mechanisms
Mitigation opportunities for enteric fermentation
Table 3: Methane mitigation technologies and their feasibility for Scottish farming
Methane-suppressing feed additives
Figure 13: Illustration of a range of methods for slurry management
Environmental Land Management schemes
Regulatory and policy framework
Figure 14: Global sources of methane emissions in 2023
Table 4: Methane emissions from all waste management sub-sectors in 2022 compared to 1990
Box 7: How methane is emitted from waste
Separate organic waste collection
Table 5: High and low recycling rates for a selection of councils in England
Figure 16: Feedstocks and outputs for anaerobic digestion
Box 8: The Renewables Obligation scheme
Box 9: Extended Producer Responsibility
Box 10: Waste sector methane: outline of existing regulations
Figure 17: Methane emissions from energy, 2000–2023
Figure 18: UK upstream oil and gas emissions by gas, 1990–2021
Box 11: Definitions: flaring, venting and fugitive emissions
Figure 20: Methane emissions by source, 2018–2021
Fugitive emissions: leak detection and repair
Economic factors in reducing methane emissions
Measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification
The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA)
The Offshore Petroleum Regulation for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED)
Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Figure 22: The methane regulatory landscape in the UK
Complexity of the regulatory landscape
Regulators’ enforcement powers
The UK Emissions Trading Scheme
Chapter 7: Government coordination and oversight
Summary of conclusions and recommendations
Appendix 1: List of Members and Declarations of Interest
Appendix 5: List of participating countries to the Global Methane Pledge
Evidence is published online at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/8304/methane/ and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7219 3074).
Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence.