EU Parliament Moves Europe One Step Closer to Tackling a Growing Climate Concern

The European Parliament today voted for a measure requiring the European Commission to focus on reducing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, which is responsible for about a quarter of today’s planetary warming. The decision comes as a recent International Energy Agency analysis finds that globally, the oil and gas industry can feasibly cut up to 75 percent of its current methane emissions and just the reductions at no net-cost would have the same climate impact in 2100 as immediately closing all the coal plants in China.

“This vote shows European leaders are starting to see methane reductions as a climate win. It’s an important recognition of the fact that data continues to underscore the urgency and economic opportunity in slashing emissions from one of its largest sources – the global oil and gas industry.

“Europe is a big consumer of natural gas and is globally the 7th largest emitter of oil and gas methane emissions, emitting the same amount as Iran and Mexico. Oil and gas methane reductions remain a powerful way to deliver climate action at low cost.”

-Bryony Worthington, Executive Director, Environmental Defense Fund Europe