On the second day of meetings at the UN climate summit, NZ joins a global move on methane but doesn't yet explain why, reports Rod Oram
New Zealand has signed up to the Global Methane Pledge at the UN climate negotiations in Glasgow, joining more than 100 nations in committing to reduce emissions of the potent greenhouse gas by 30 per cent by 2030. The signatories account for half human-induced methane emissions, and 70 percent of GDP, even though China, India and Russia have not joined the pact.
This plus two other major developments over the past 24 hours have generated momentum in the early stages of the two-week COP26 meeting.
The US, China and Brazil are among countries which have signed a Declaration on Forest and Land Use to protect vast areas of rainforests and other land across the world. Land-clearing, mainly for agriculture, accounts for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. The pact also includes some US$20bn of government, philanthropic and private sector funding for projects to further the Declaration’s aims.
And Japan has pledged an increase in climate funding to developing countries, which looks likely to ensure developed countries hit the US$100 billion a year they had first pledged in 2010 but have yet to deliver in full.
Methane has risen rapidly up the global climate agenda this year because of two major UN climate reports which identified that a rapid cut in methane emissions could reduce the increase in global temperatures by some 0.3C. it has accounted for about one-third of the warming Earth has experienced since the beginning of the industrial revolution.
In response, the US and the EU formed the methane alliance only six weeks ago and have quickly gained support from other countries. Cutting the gas “is the lowest hanging fruit,” said Ursula von der Leyen, the EU President, as she formally launched the initiative with President Joe Biden at COP26 on Tuesday.
In addition to the climate benefits, both leaders emphasised that lower methane levels would deliver health benefits too, such as reducing air pollution related deaths by some 200,000 people a year globally, reducing asthma cases by some 100,000 a year and reducing crop losses by 2Om tonnes a year. Biden also stressed the economic benefits from jobs created from fixing methane leaks from oil and gas production and transmission.
Members of the alliance will focus initially on the oil and gas sector, which generates 36 percent of human-induced methane emissions per year. Canada was the first signatory to step up with a national target to meet the pledge. It will, for example, seek to reduce methane leaks from its large oil and gas sector by 75 per cent by 2030. And the EU will introduce regulations next month to regulate the gas in that sector.
But agriculture, which generates 42 percent of methane emissions, won’t face the same regulatory pressure in the foreseeable future, people involved in the alliance said. More science and R&D is required to develop a wider range of ways to reduce methane emissions from animals, rice paddies and some other farming practices.
The New Zealand Government has yet to explain its reasons for signing the methane pledge. Its current reduction target is only one-third of the new global 2030 goal. But it is likely to point to the work already under way in our oil and gas sector to reduce emissions, and the work of the joint government-primary sector taskforce He Waka Eke Noa to measure, manage, mitigate and price on-farm emissions.
Sarah Smith of the Clean Air Task Force, explains in the interview below. Smith leads the US-based NGOs global methane reduction team. It is a member of a large coalition of UN agencies and have come together to drive action on the pledge, and to host The Methane Moment pavilion at COP.
Tuesday also brought an opportunity for New Zealand’s Climate Leaders Coalition to present virtually to a business audience at COP26 and online. Its 105 corporate members, mainly major businesses, generate some 38 percent of NZ’s GDP. Their latest report tallies up their $9.5bn of planned investment in reducing emissions over the next five years.
The presentation was made by Neal Barclay, CEO of Meridian Energy, and Mike Burrell, executive director of the Sustainable Business Council, which hosts the coalition. They joined online presenters from similar business organisations in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan. The event was part of the extensive COP26 programme run by We Mean Business, a global network of business organisations committed to a 1.5C climate goal. All of the live events (and subsequent recordings of them) are free and available online.
Appropriately for the COP26 declaration on land use, protection and restoration, the UK’s Eden Project has a delightful, eye-catching evocation of its work in the main throughfare through the COP campus. The project in Cornwall, opened in 2000, turned a huge former clay pit into a lush ecosystem, including the world’s largest indoor rainforest. It has attracted some 20 million visitors and generated some $4bn of economic activity for the Cornish economy.
The Eden Project is working with Ngai Tahu, Christchurch City Council and the Eden Trust New Zealand to restore a 40 ha site on the Avon River in ways appropriate to local culture and ecosystems. The Christchurch Earthquakes and destroyed housing in the area but their rebuilding was deemed impractical because of geological and flooding risks.
Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, talks about the Christchurch plans in this interview. With him in the picture is Jane Knight, a member of the organisation’s’ international design and creative team, who is also involved in the Christchurch project.
