NGOs speak out on methane issue in response to draft COP26 agreement
GLASGOW — A group of 17 leading non-profit organizations have endorsed a call to elevate the need to cut methane pollution in response to the draft COP26 agreement circulated earlier this morning:
“Limiting warming to 1.5 °C. requires rapid and sustained reductions of emissions from methane and other non-CO2 short-lived climate pollutants, along with rapid and sustained reductions in CO2 emissions.
This is the conclusion of the IPCC’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.[1] It also is the conclusion of UNEP & Climate & Clean Air Coalition (2021) Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions.[2] And it is the conclusion of AR 6.[3]
It is not possible to slow warming in the critical next decade or two without reducing the non-CO2 climate pollutants. We urge COP26 negotiators to reflect these scientific conclusions and build on the momentum of the Global Methane Pledge in the final CMA decision.”
This statement comes just a week after the launch of the Global Methane Pledge in Glasgow.
The pledge commits signatories to a collective goal of reducing methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. The U.S. and EU announced it in September and have so far recruited more than 100 world governments to join.
CATF works with national governments, NGOs and industry leaders around the world to put robust implementation plans in place to quickly cut methane pollution, including through the Country Methane Abatement Tool (CoMAT). The organization has a substantial presence at COP26, in part as co-hosts of a global methane pavilion, which features two weeks of programming around the urgent need to reduce methane emissions. Many of the organizations endorsing this statement were also involved in this Methane Moment pavilion.
Leading climate scientists have found that reducing methane emissions is required to keep the planet from warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, helping to maintain a safe climate. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), methane is responsible for about half of the 1.0 degree Celsius net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era, and action to rapidly cut methane pollution is the clearest opportunity humanity has to reduce the amount of warming Earth will experience in the next 20 years.
Supporting groups
- Center for Human Rights and Environment
- Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental
- Changing Markets Foundation
- Clean Air Task Force
- Climate Group
- David Suzuki Foundation
- Deutsche Umwelthilfe
- Earthworks
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Environmental Investigation Agency
- Iniciativa Climática de México
- Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development
- Lakestone Institute for Sustainable Development
- Methane Action
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Pembina Institute
- Rocky Mountain Institute
Press Contacts
North America: Troy Shaheen, Communications Director, U.S., [email protected], +1 845-750-1189
Europe: Rowan Emslie, Communications Director, EU, [email protected], +32 476-97-36-42
About Clean Air Task Force
Clean Air Task Force (CATF) is a non-profit organization working to safeguard against the worst impacts of climate change by catalyzing the rapid global development and deployment of low-carbon energy and other climate-protecting technologies. We work towards these objectives through research and analysis, public advocacy leadership, and partnership with the private sector. With nearly 25 years of nationally and internationally recognized expertise on clean air policy and regulations and a fierce commitment to fully exploring all potential solutions, CATF is an environmental advocacy group with the bold ideas needed today to solve the climate crisis.
