According to the deputy US special envoy on climate change, cooperation between the United States and China regarding methane reduction is progressing. He highlighted an opportunity for Beijing to significantly reduce emissions from its extensive coal sector at minimal or no cost.
Rick Duke, the climate envoy, informed Reuters that the two nations, the largest greenhouse gas emitters globally, were collaborating on methane reduction efforts within a working group established last year to address the climate crisis.
“We are, indeed, in the process of propelling that work together,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a methane forum in Geneva. “That is a tremendous opportunity, given the magnitude of the mitigation potential in both countries, but above all in China.”
Methane, the second most significant contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, possesses a substantially higher warming potential in the short term. However, due to its shorter lifespan in the atmosphere compared to other greenhouse gases, action on methane can yield quicker results.
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“There’s nothing that compares in the speed of benefit to the climate to cutting methane. And so having the world’s biggest emitter joining in that effort through the Paris (climate) agreement architecture is tremendously important,” Duke added.
China stands as the world’s foremost methane emitter from coal mines, accounting for 28% of the globe’s major methane emission sources, as reported by Kayrros, an emissions tracking firm.
In a significant move, Beijing dispatched a delegation to the largest-ever meeting on the topic, organized by the United Nations in Geneva. This meeting aims to assist countries in fulfilling their methane reduction commitments.
Liu Wenge, vice president of the Ministry of Emergency Management, affirmed China’s dedication to enhancing methane emission control in critical sectors and expressed readiness to collaborate with all nations.
