LUXEMBOURG — Berlin will seek to delay the rollout of key European Union rules regulating emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane, joining a growing coalition of EU member countries arguing the regulation could jeopardize the bloc’s supply of oil and gas.
It follows sustained lobbying against the rules by the United States government and the fossil fuel sector.
“We urgently need a reworking of the methane regulation,” Katherina Reiche, Germany’s minister of economic affairs and energy, told reporters at a summit of European energy ministers in Luxembourg. “The methane regulation would prevent not only gas imports to Germany but also petroleum products from being imported from 2027.”
She added: “We cannot put our security of supply at risk if the methane regulation remains in its current form,” and called for a “postponement or an extension” of the rules.
