The UK is still well off track on meeting its international commitments to cut methane emissions, analysis has shown, despite moves to stop cows from belching out so much of it.
Ministers unveiled a host of initiatives to reduce UK greenhouse gas emissions in the government’s “green day” of energy announcements more than a week ago, including plans to introduce methane-suppressing feed for livestock from 2025, and to stop biodegradable waste going to landfill from 2028.
But these did not go far enough to reduce Britain’s methane emissions by 30% by 2030, the target agreed under the global methane pledge that the UK signed before the Cop26 summit in Glasgow in 2021, according to analysis by the Green Alliance thinktank.
It found that the government’s policies would cut UK methane output by about 14%, compared with 2020 levels, by 2030.
Ministers have rejected one significant measure to cut methane emissions, an immediate ban on routine flaring and venting from gas and oil drilling platforms in the North Sea. The review of the UK’s net zero strategy by the former energy minister Chris Skidmore, as well as parliamentary committees, recommended bringing in such a ban from 2025, but the practice will be allowed to continue until at least 2030.
Offshore operators waste enough gas to power more than 750,000 homes a year through flaring and venting, and enough to power at least 100,000 more from undetected leaks.
Measures to cut the UK’s methane in line with the pledge and beyond are still possible, according to the Green Alliance. Bringing forward the ban on flaring and venting, forcing landfill operators to capture methane at a higher rate than what escapes from rubbish dumps at present, mending the UK’s existing leaky gas mains at a faster rate, and encouraging a swifter uptake of methane-suppressing feed for livestock could help the country achieve a reduction of more than 40% by 2030.
Liam Hardy, of the Green Alliance, said: “Existing measures to tackle UK methane emissions are wholly inadequate, but it’s not too late to turn things around. The government should be able to put forward a plan to cut methane emissions by more than 43%. This would help get us closer to net zero and put the UK in a clear position of leadership ahead of international climate negotiations later this year.”
The UK is also falling behind on its overall climate pledge to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to the government’s own analysis.
More than 100 countries are now signed up to the global methane pledge. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with about 80 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide, though it has a shorter life in the atmosphere.
Scientific consensus says cutting methane drastically is one of the quickest and surest ways to stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis, and could help to reduce global temperature rises by as much as 0.5C within a few decades. But global methane emissions are still rising, and many countries have been misreporting their output of the gas.
Satellite imaging is allowing a far clearer picture of global emissions than before. The Guardian recently revealed the existence of more than 1,000 “super-emitting” methane sites around the world.
The UK government disputed the Green Alliance findings. “This analysis is completely wrong. The UK has adopted early and ambitious measures to tackle methane emissions. Already this means that between 1990 and 2020 UK methane emissions fell by 62% – more than any other OECD country,” a spokesperson said.
“We recognise the urgency to do more, which is why we are going further and faster to reduce emissions in line with the net zero strategy and carbon budgets, and the global methane pledge, a global reduction target.”
