California Leads International Efforts to Cut Methane Levels

By SAMANTHA SONNETT | Intern

California’s plan to dramatically reduce methane emissions over the next several years has become an international effort.

At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai in December 2023, California launched the Subnational Methane Action Coalition, with 15 signatories spanning different continents, including parts of Nigeria, South Korea, Brazil and Canada.

Our state is committed to reducing methane emissions by 40% by the year 2030, compared to 2013 levels, and the SMAC signatories have similar ambitions. These international efforts also align with a new federal law announced that will closely monitor and regulate methane levels from oil and gas production.

Methane is a contributor to climate change because it traps more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year period and responsible for more than a quarter of our current global warming, according to the California Air Resources Board. While a substantial amount of methane emissions stem from natural sources, most of it comes from human activity, specifically agriculture, energy sources and waste.

In 2021, agriculture was the leading anthropogenic culprit at 141 million metric tons (Mt) of released methane, followed by oil, gas, coal and bioenergy at a combined amount of 135.2 Mt, according to International Energy Agency. Waste sources, like landfills, secreted 73 Mt of methane into the atmosphere that year.

SMAC will tackle the issue by focusing on these three sectors. The signatories each hope to reduce agricultural and other waste by one million Mt.

They also are taking steps to more closely regulate the oil and gas industry by, among other things, requiring oil companies to reduce the amount of flaring, which is the burning off of natural gas. These goals are important because lowering methane emissions could prevent 0.3º C of warming by 2050, according to California Air Resources Board.

Even more, future oil and gas workers in this country support efforts to reduce methane emissions through modernizing technology and innovation. In fall, a petition produced by the American Conservation Coalition entitled “Methane Matters” garnered 6,000 signatures from young people, many engineering students or otherwise bound for the oil and gas industry.

These developing climate goals come at the same time that the Biden administration announced new methane reduction regulations for the oil and gas industry, which similarly require a reduction of flaring. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, these guidelines could possibly limit 58 Mt of emissions between 2024 and 2038.

“Tackling methane emissions is one of the best investments we can make to fight climate change now and produce benefits in the near future to leave a better planet for generations to come,” stated Liane Randolph, chair of the California Air Resources Board.

Samantha Sonnett is a student at Palisades Charter High School and passionate about the environment. She is an activist with the American Conservation Coalition and an organizer at Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles. She loves to dance, and in her free time she can often be found at the beach or strumming on her guitar.