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The COP28 Presidency has announced it will mobilise more than $1 billion for methane abatement projects, with details about the initiative to be released on the climate summit’s Energy Thematic Day on December 5.
The initiative is a key pillar and a part of the of the Global Decarbonization Accelerator (GDA) that was launched on the second day of the World Climate Action Summit.
The GDA aims to speed up the energy transition and ‘drastically’ reduce global emissions, by targeting methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Earlier in the day, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the final rules in its plan to “sharply reduce methane and other harmful air pollutants from the oil and natural gas industry,” and promote the use of cutting-edge methane detection technologies, which will deliver significant economic and public health benefits.
Curbing methane emissions is more effective in limiting climate change as its warming potential is higher than carbon dioxide and it breaks into the atmosphere faster.
US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is also at COP28, pledged $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund at COP28, along with announcing plans that includes a domestic climate action agenda, bolstering global climate resilience, responding to the impacts of climate change in vulnerable countries, accelerating Global Climate Action to Keep the 1.5°C Goal Within Reach and mobilising finance from all sources, The White House said.
(Writing by Bindu Rai, editing by Seban Scaria)
