Businesses urged to cut methane leaks at Baku Climate Action Week

Academics and businesses discussed the need to clean up natural gas at the Baku Climate Action Week summit, held in the Azerbaijan capital ahead of COP29.

NGOs are calling on oil and gas companies to limit methane emissions and for countries to require importers to commit to do so.

Methane is one of the largest contributors to global warming and contributes to air pollution around the world.

A non-for-profit focused on climate change says it is independently gathering data to identify how much methane is being leaked by companies, allowing it to see whether they are sticking to their promises to decrease emissions.

One environmental scientist said decreasing methane emissions could help combat increased storm intensity and floods due to climate change. 

Environmental Defence Fund chief scientist Steve Hamburg said there needs to be public demand and government pressure for more companies to make such commitments against emissions.

“We are seeing increasing efforts by countries that import gas to require that sources of their imports come from places that have very low methane emissions, as well as with countries that have regulations requiring limited emissions,” he said.

“This is really low hanging fruit. The industry knows how to produce gas with very little associated-methane emissions.”

The International Energy Agency says the energy sector is responsible for more than a third of methane emissions from human activity.

It estimates the production and use of fossil fuels led to nearly 120 million tonnes of methane emissions last year. 

A roundtable discussion at the week-long meeting looked at financial opportunities in the green sector.

Baku’s top goal for COP29 is ensuring more financing for countries to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, calling the summit a litmus test for the Paris Agreement — an international treaty on climate change.

A leading representative of Azerbaijan’s COP29 presidency says the country’s role at the summit is as a mediator. 

“This is when we expect the finance goal to be achieved, to have consensus on finance between the parties,” said Nigar Arpadarai, the United Nations Climate Change High Level Champion for COP29, which is a part of the Azerbaijani summit presidency.