Biden administration proposes new rules to limit planet-warming methane emissions

By Ella Nilsen, CNN

Updated 0506 GMT (1306 HKT) November 2, 2021

(CNN)The Biden administration is proposing new rules from a number of federal agencies with the same goal: Slashing planet-warming methane emissions.At the center of the announcement is a regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency that would push oil and gas companies to more accurately detect, monitor and repair methane leaks from new and existing wells, pipelines and other equipment.The EPA estimates it would cut 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035 — more than all the carbon dioxide emitted by all US passenger cars and commercial planes in 2019.

Methane is a greenhouse gas around 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term, and experts have told CNN that reducing methane leaks is among the easiest ways to slow global warming. It is the main component of natural gas, which powers close to 40% of the US electricity sector. It can enter the atmosphere through leaks from oil and natural gas wells, natural gas pipelines and the processing equipment itself. Landfills and agriculture are also a source of methane emissions.

The EPA’s proposal comes as Biden attends the UN climate summit in Glasgow, where countries are gathering to raise ambitions to decarbonize their economies.”With this historic action, EPA is addressing existing sources from the oil and natural gas industry nationwide, in addition to updating rules for new sources, to ensure robust and lasting cuts in pollution across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

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The Biden EPA rule would go further than that of former President Barack Obama’s EPA, which only covered new and recently modified equipment. It would also regulate natural gas that comes as a byproduct of oil production, which is often vented or flared, and cover leaks from compressor stations and gas-fired pneumatic controllers, all of which can be the sources of serious methane leaks.

If the rules are implemented, the agency says that would result in new routine monitoring at 300,000 well sites across the country.

“All told, the estimate is that about 75% of all methane emissions will be covered by this EPA rule,” a senior administration official told reporters. “Methane is obviously a key issue for the US.”The Department of Interior and Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration also announced a final rule to address the potent greenhouse gas. DOI’s proposed rule would combat emissions from wells on public lands by discouraging venting and flaring, while PHMSA is extending federal regulations to all onshore gas gathering pipelines, requiring companies to monitor and report leaks and safety information.

The US Department of Agriculture will focus on ways to capture methane from agriculture, working with farmers to identify ways to cut methane across the food chain. Although 30% of the nation’s methane emissions come from the oil and gas industry, methane from landfills and agriculture is also important to tackle, officials stressed.

The Biden administration has been looking for ways to achieve the President’s goal to slash US greenhouse gas emissions by around 50% by 2030. The administration is trying to show strong executive action to compliment Biden’s climate agenda in Congress, especially since some senators have not explicitly backed the economic framework that contains most of the Democrats’ climate measures.

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One of those measures is a fee that would be levied on oil and gas companies that emit methane above a certain threshold, along with $775 million in grants and incentives to help companies stay below the threshold.

“The fee and the rules should be complementary tools,” the Environmental Defense Fund’s Jon Goldstein told CNN. “The rules are critical because if designed correctly they ensure across the board, comprehensive reductions. The fee has the ability to augment the regulations by leading to faster and potentially additional reductions.

“The administration is putting an emphasis on slashing methane emissions both at home and abroad, in hopes it will help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, which scientists say the world should stay below to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Methane emissions from oil and gas “is the low hanging fruit, it’s the largest industrial source of methane emissions” in the US, Goldstein said.

Environmental groups also say capping leaks is good for oil and gas producers’ bottom lines, since so much potential product is escaping into the atmosphere.

“At the end of the day, what’s leaking is a product that can be sold,” said Julie McNamara, climate and energy deputy policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

SOURCE: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/02/politics/epa-methane-regulations/index.html

More than 100 world leaders will agree to end deforestation by 2030 at COP26

By Ivana Kottasová, CNN

Updated 0035 GMT (0835 HKT) November 2, 2021

Glasgow, Scotland (CNN)

More than 100 world leaders representing over 85% of the planet’s forests will commit on Tuesday to ending and reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030, a British government statement says, in what would be the first substantial deal announced at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.

Among the nations taking part are Canada, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of which have significant tracts of forest. Brazil in particular has come under criticism for allowing an increase in the deforestation of the Amazon in recent years. The US and China will also be party to the agreement.

5 takeaways from the first day of COP26: Biden’s apology, India’s pledge, much disappointmentThe deal is consequential to the climate as forests, when they are logged or degrade, emit carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, accounting for around 11% of the world’s total CO2 emissions.

The leaders will make the announcement during a COP26 session about forests and commit £8.75 billion ($12 billion) of public funds to protection and restoration, alongside £5.3 billion ($7.2 billion) of private investment. CEOs from more than dozens of financial institutions, including Aviva, Schroders and Axa, are also committing to ending investment in activities that lead to deforestation.

“Today, at COP26, leaders have signed a landmark agreement to protect and restore the earth’s forests,” Johnson will say, according to the statement.”These great teeming ecosystems — these cathedrals of nature – are the lungs of our planet. Forests support communities, livelihoods and food supply, and absorb the carbon we pump into the atmosphere. They are essential to our very survival.”

“With today’s unprecedented pledges, we will have a chance to end humanity’s long history as nature’s conqueror, and instead become its custodian.”

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The agreement will likely provide a morale boost at COP26, which got off to shaky start after the G20 leaders’ summit in Rome over the weekend failed to result in an agreement on firm new climate commitments, particularly on when to end the use of coal.It is also a breakthrough after years of negotiations on how to protect forests. There have been several different schemes to try and curb deforestation, including one that awarded credits to people conserving forests that could be traded on markets. These schemes often faced fierce opposition, particularly from Latin America, where indigenous groups and leaders said forests should be fully protected and not commodified.

“This might just look like grass, but it has the power to absorb a load of our carbon emissions“

Indonesia is blessed as the most carbon rich country in the world on vast rainforests, mangroves, oceans and peatlands,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a statement. “We are committed to protecting these critical carbon sinks and our natural capital for future generations.”Rainforest Foundation Norway welcomed the deal, but said that funding should only be given to countries that showed results.

“This is the largest amount of forest funding ever pledged and it comes at a crucial time for the world’s rainforests. The new commitments have the potential to speed up necessary action from both governments and companies. We hope this funding will spur the political changes needed,” said Rainforest Foundation Norway Secretary General Toerris Jaeger in a statement.

“With big money comes big opportunities, but also great responsibilities. There is not time for baby-steps. Funding should therefore only reward real and substantial action taken by rainforest countries and those who respect the rights of Indigenous people and local communities.”

There are some reasons to be cautious, as several past forest protection schemes have come and gone.In a years-long partnership, Norway agreed to transfer Indonesia $1 billion to put a moratorium on new logging permits. That deal fell apart recently, with Norwegian donors saying they did not see real results, while Indonesian officials complained the funds were not being transferred.

CNN’s Angela Dewan wrote from London.

SOURCE: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/01/world/cop26-climate-deforestation-deal-intl/index.html