European Union negotiators struck a deal to curb methane emissions leaking from fossil-fuel infrastructure and plotted a course to reduce the gas’s presence in imports.
EU lawmakers and member states reached a provisional political agreement to require energy companies to regularly check infrastructure like wells and pipelines for leaks of methane, the Council of the EU and the European Council said in a statement. The potent greenhouse gas has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere and is responsible for approximately 30% of the Earth’s warming.
While countries like Canada and Nigeria also have measures to reduce domestic methane leaks, the EU’s approach is notable because it imports the vast majority of its fossil fuel supplies from countries like the US and Algeria.
Read more: Europe Warns Methane Polluters as Bloc Pushes to Slash Emissions
The agreement implements rules on imports in three phases. The first will focus on data collection and the second and third phases will include monitoring and verification that will be applied by exporters to the EU that must include “maximum methane intensity values” by 2030.
