EU energy ministers agreed new rules on Monday (19 December) to tackle methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, but were immediately criticised by the European Commission and campaigners for reducing the law’s initial ambition.

Last year, the European Commission tabled a regulation to tackle methane emissions in the fossil fuel sector and bring Europe in line with a global pledge to slash emissions by 30% by 2030.

Methane can leak from fossil fuel infrastructure during extraction and transport and has more than 80 times the global warming power of CO2 in the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere.

“Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, responsible for about 30% of current global warming” said Czech minister Jozef Síkela, who was chairing Monday’s meeting of the EU’s Energy Council bringing together the 27 ministers.

“This [regulation] will help us meet our commitments under the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030,” he added.

However, the European Commission, several EU countries and green campaigners immediately criticised the ministerial text, which still needs to be finalised during upcoming talks with the European Parliament.

“The general approach risks putting us behind many of our energy partners in controlling methane emissions,” EU energy chief Kadri Simson warned ministers.

“The EU needs a methane regulation that is truly coherently with the climate emergency we are facing and one that gets us to 2050 climate neutrality,” she added, calling on EU countries to show flexibility in upcoming negotiations with the European Parliament.

Watered down rules

The agreed text introduces new requirements for the fossil fuel sector to measure, report and verify methane emissions, including in wells and mines, and take appropriate measures to prevent and reduce methane emissions.

“This regulation will help us understand where methane emissions come from and address them effectively,” Síkela explained.

But EU countries significantly weakened the requirements, extending the time period between inspections from three months for all equipment to, at best, every six months.

The revised detection limits and repair thresholds are aimed to “increase the efficiency of addressing significant volumes of leaks rather than larger number of small leaks representing lower shares of emissions”, according to a statement by the Council of the EU.

Meanwhile, offshore oil and gas wells deeper than 700 metres will be exempt under the argument that emissions have a limited potential of reaching the atmosphere and there is insufficient methodology to properly measure them.

Rules to reduce emissions also apply to inactive wells, but these have been watered down too. Inactive or abandoned offshore wells below 700 metres will be exempt from monitoring, reporting and plugging obligations and wells between 200 and 700 metres can also be exempt if there is no documentation of methane leaks.

The law also introduces new rules to crack down on methane venting and flaring. These will be banned as soon as the law comes into force except under exceptional circumstances or if it is not immediately feasible.

However, the rules were also weakened here, with the inspection of flare stacks going from weekly to monthly and requirements for reporting on flaring events during shutdowns deleted.

Experts ‘stunned’ at lack of ambition

During the meeting, several countries voiced concerns about the text, with Luxembourg’s Claude Turmes the most vocal critic.

“All experts are stunned by the lack of ambition of what we have achieved here, Jozef,” Turmes told the Czech minister who was chairing the meeting.

“Nobody understands how Europe, who is so committed to [tackling] climate change, can come up with such a weak governmental position on methane,” he added.

Turmes suggested scheduling a revision of the law for 2028, something Portugal, Ireland and Austria supported as well. However, this provision was not adopted, with the next review taking place two years later, in 2030.

The Luxembourg minister also highlighted that methane leaks represent a loss of valuable gas that could potentially be sold on the EU market and help tackle the energy crisis.

“Methane waste makes no sense from a climate, energy security or economic point of view. Today’s decision by Ministers to water down legislation is a self-inflicted wound,” said Flavia Sollazzo, senior director of EU Energy Transition at the Environmental Defense Fund Europe, which commissioned the study.

“The EU now risks falling short of its own commitments to curb this extremely dirty greenhouse gas,” she warned.

Tackling methane leaks in imports

The regulation will also require methane emissions from EU energy imports to be tracked.

The bloc is dependent on imports for 70% of its hard coal consumption, 97% of its oil consumption, and 90% of its fossil gas consumption, but there is currently no exact data on the extent or origin of methane emissions linked to this.

And Germany successfully added a provision requiring the European Commission to look into the implications of extending the regulation to countries exporting to the EU as part of the law’s next revision.

The revision will look at the potential for reducing methane leaks as well as the impact on energy prices and Europe’s security of supply. Depending on the outcome, the EU executive should then submit a legal proposal to extend the law.

“This is very important for climate protection, because the subject of leakage also exists for imports,” explained Sven Giegold, the German state secretary who took part in the ministerial meeting.

Recent analysis by S&P Global, commissioned by the Environmental Defense Fund Europe, estimates that more than 80 billion cubic metres (bcm) of methane could be captured and profitably brought to market by cutting preventable losses in six key export regions.

This is equal to almost 60% of Europe’s pre-war annual imports from Russia, which decreased dramatically following the invasion of Ukraine, adding to Europe’s crippling energy crisis.

The European Parliament is still working on its position on the law. Once this is done, it will enter negotiations with EU countries to decide the final text.

Source: Euractiv.com