Delaying implementation of the EU's 2024 methane emissions regulation (MER) would not weaken the bloc's climate ambitions, the EU's energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen said today, arguing the law already positions Europe at the forefront of methane emissions reduction.
The European Commission is assessing legal options to delay by one year key monitoring provisions for oil, gas and coal imports due to enter into force in 2027, an official source said yesterday.
Any delay to the MER — which sets measurement, reporting and verification obligations for EU companies and will phase in requirements for importers — should be conditional, Jorgensen said today.
"It needs to be on the condition that all member states then use that year to make sure that they are able to implement," he said, speaking at a meeting of EU energy ministers in Dublin.
Citing concerns raised by a "big" majority of member states, Jorgensen said there was a need to remove uncertainty around implementation of the regulation. The European Commission is assessing legal options and is now expected to present a proposal before an EU leaders' meeting on 15 October.
Any delay would require approval from both the European Parliament and EU member states before the end of the year. The change would push the start of key reporting obligations from 1 January 2027 to 1 January 2028.
Spain remains opposed to reopening and delaying the methane regulation. Reopening would allow member states and parliament to seek broader amendments to any commission proposal than a one-year delay.
"We don't want to postpone the methane regulation," said Spanish ecological transition minister Sara Aagesen, stressing the need for continued action to tackle global warming.
Aagesen also repeated Spain's call for a permanent levy on the oil and gas sector to finance climate resilience measures. She said Madrid is still awaiting a response from the commission to a request by six member states to examine options for taxing windfall profits.
Jorgensen reiterated the need to reduce Europe's dependence on fossil fuels, but said that a US ban on diesel exports would be in neither US nor EU interests. President Donald Trump has floated a ban on US diesel exports, but US energy secretary Chris Wright has downplayed the idea. Jorgensen said he welcomed Wright's comments.
"Europe is one of the most exposed regions, if not the most exposed, when it comes to diesel," energy watchdog IEA executive director Fatih Birol said today in Dublin. Europe receives around half of its diesel imports from the US and is entering the winter heating season, Birol added.
