More than 150 energy companies — including U.S. oil majors like Exxon Mobil — are improving the quality of their methane reporting under a global effort to slash the powerful greenhouse gas, according to the U.N. Environmental Programme.
The agency released a progress report Wednesday on the so-called International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), which aims to track global methane emissions. The UNEP initiative supports the Global Methane Pledge, a commitment by more than 150 countries to slash the planet-warming gas by 30 percent by 2030.
“Methane emissions from human activity account for roughly one-third of the global warming we experience today,” the report states. “Reliable measurement-based data is required not only to guide effective and efficient mitigation, but also to track changes in emissions over time and assess progress toward climate goals.”
UNEP released the report ahead of next month’s start to global climate talks in Belém, Brazil. It showed a slow but steady increase in the number of global energy companies that have agreed to furnish detailed methane reports based on empirical measurements across their operations instead of engineering estimates.
