Australia reconsiders methane emissions cut pledge

The Labor-led Australian federal government, which was elected last month, said it was looking at joining the global methane pledge that seeks a collective 30pc cut in methane emissions by 2030 relative to 2020 levels. The previous conservative coalition government rejected the pledge when it was unveiled last year.

The government will consult with industry and stakeholders, a spokesperson for Australian resources minister Madeline King told Argus. "We acknowledge that methane is a challenging issue for some industries, including in the agricultural and resources sectors."

Around 26pc of Australia's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2021 were from methane emissions, according to the latest GHG inventory data from the Australian Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.

Most of Australia's sources of methane emissions come from its agricultural and energy sectors, with lobby groups that represent these industries opposed to Australia joining the methane pledge. Agricultural GHG emissions represents about 13pc of Australia's total emissions, while 42pc of the sector's emissions are from methane.

Most of this is the methane produced by cattle and other livestock through the fermentation of plants in their stomachs. Australia's expansion of LNG exports over the past decade to around 80mn t/yr have also seen an increased contribution to GHGs coming from methane emissions in the upstream sector.

Methane has attracted the attention of policymakers in seeking ways to reduce GHG emissions as it is a more potent source than carbon dioxide (CO2). Methane traps heat much more efficiently than CO2 but only over the course of around a decade with it broken down into CO2 and water afterwards. This potency is why methane has a greater global warming potential, which is 86 times higher than CO2 when averaged over 20 years and 28 times higher when averaged over 100 years.

The new Australian government has already deepened its GHG emissions reduction target to 43pc by 2030 from 2005 levels compared with the 26-28pc cut pledged by the previous administration.

By Kevin Morrison