Environmental Group Urges Germany to Back EU Methane Regulation

Berlin – The environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) is urging German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider to defend the European Union's methane regulation at an upcoming meeting of EU energy ministers. The organization expresses concern that the regulation, aimed at reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, is in danger of being diluted. This concern arises amid renewed challenges to the regulation from gas and oil-exporting nations like Qatar and the United States, coupled with lobbying efforts from natural gas importers seeking to weaken it.

Czechia and Slovakia have placed the methane regulation on the agenda for Friday's EU energy ministers' meeting and are calling for its suspension. While Germany has historically supported the regulation, guided by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, it remains unclear if this stance will hold. According to DUH, Economy Minister Reiche is reportedly pushing for Germany to join the Czech and Slovak initiative at the upcoming meeting.

DUH's federal managing director, Sascha Müller-Kraenner, emphasized that reducing methane emissions is one of the quickest and most economically efficient climate protection measures. He pointed to International Energy Agency (IEA) data suggesting that consistent reduction of methane leakage during gas extraction and transport could make available nearly three times Germany's annual gas imports in usable gas. "Weakening this law now would be entirely misguided from both an energy security and climate protection perspective," Müller-Kraenner stated.

The methane regulation requires companies extracting oil, gas, and coal for the EU market to measure their methane emissions and adhere to specific methane intensity limits by 2030. Methane is over 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and accounts for more than a third of current global warming.

DUH is calling on Minister Schneider to clearly and publicly reaffirm Germany's support for the regulation. The organization asserts that Germany's firm stance is crucial for signaling reliability to companies and implementing authorities amidst pressure from the United States and industry stakeholders.