At a June 16 press conference at the UNFCCC’s Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany, leading NGOs, scientists, and climate advocates will launch a new campaign to “Pull the Methane Emergency Brake,” organised by the NGOs Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO), Methane Action, and the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD).

The campaign calls for deep, rapid, mandatory cuts in methane emissions as the fastest, most impactful way to lower near-term global temperature rise.

Emissions and atmospheric concentrations of methane continue to increase rapidly despite 159 countries signing the voluntary Global Methane Pledge. Methane is an extremely powerful greenhouse gas. It has caused a third of modern warming, and since the Paris Agreement, it has driven even more warming than carbon dioxide.

Going forward, cutting methane emissions is a critical pathway to limiting near-term global temperature rise. But with methane rising and climate tipping points looming faster than previously thought possible, campaign organisers say we are out of time to rely on voluntary frameworks like the Pledge and national NDCs.  We need to establish mandatory methane mitigation measures now, such as a binding agreement long called for by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, President of the UN Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20 Finance Ministers (CVF-V20).

Among those presenting at the June 16 “Pulling the Methane Emergency Brake” press conference will be:

• Rob Jackson –  Chair of the Global Methane Project, Douglas Provostial Professor of Earth System Science at Stanford University, Senior Fellow,  Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy Pollution Management 
• Stephan Singer – Senior Global Specialist on Climate Science and Energy, Climate Action Network International
• Daphne Wysham – CEO, Methane Action
• Paul Boëffard – Program Coordinator, Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO)
• Durwood Zaelke – Founder and President, Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

Methane is a key driver of global warming. Emerging data indicate that in the years since the Paris Agreement was struck, new methane has caused more warming than new carbon dioxide.  Other studies show that cutting methane emissions could result in four times the reduction in global temperature rise compared to cutting the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions, and could kick in much faster, lowering global warming by as much as 0.5 °C in the next few decades.

To that end, the Methane Emergency Brake campaign is organising climate and grassroots groups to take action on methane, and calling on governments at all levels and international organisations to:

• Mandate and enforce mandatory – not voluntary –  methane emissions reductions that meet or exceed a 45% reduction in anthropogenic methane emissions this decade, in line with the Paris Agreement, and across all methane-emitting sectors, including fossil fuels, agriculture, and waste.
• Cut methane emissions from fossil fuel operations by at least 75% by 2030, consistent with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 scenario. These reductions can be achieved using existing technologies and regulatory frameworks.
• Tell the truth about methane emissions and impacts. Methane emissions are substantially underreported, but  new satellite systems are revealing methane emissions and super-emitters in real time. To accurately reflect the urgency of methane mitigation, the IPCC should require and assimilate current, accurate emissions data and update its methane global warming potential (GWP) metric from 100 years to 20 years.