The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with support from the European Union, today launched a new Observatory to drive action on reducing methane emissions – a powerful greenhouse gas responsible for at least a quarter of the current climate warming. The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) was launched at the G20 Summit, on the eve of the latest round of climate talks, known as COP26 in Glasgow.
IMEO will improve the reporting accuracy and public transparency of human-caused methane emissions. IMEO will initially focus on methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector, and then expand to other major emitting sectors like agriculture and waste.
The recently published UNEP-CCAC Global Methane Assessment states that zero or low net-cost reductions could almost halve anthropogenic methane emissions and proven measures could shave 0.28°C from the forecasted rise in the planet’s average temperature by 2050.
