Example
Participants may pursue the goal through rules on oil and gas leaks, landfill management and agriculture.
The catch
The pledge is collective and non-binding, so progress rests on each country's own measures.
Related terms
Methane, Anthropogenic methane, Biogenic methane, Flaring, Fossil methane, Fugitive emissions
In more depth
Global Methane Pledge, explained.
The Global Methane Pledge made methane a stand-alone goal in climate diplomacy. The science behind that focus is summarised in UNEP's Global Methane Assessment (2021), which found that cutting human-caused methane by 45% this decade would avoid nearly 0.3°C of warming by the 2040s.
Signing costs a government little, so judge participants by what follows. Useful signals include new rules for leaking oil and gas equipment and for waste sites, and a better national emissions inventory. Participants also committed to moving towards the most detailed IPCC inventory methods, particularly for high-emitting sources, which matters because the IEA finds reported methane often trails measured releases. A country can sign and still see its emissions rise. When a source cites the pledge, check for national methane abatement policies and trend data before treating membership as progress.