Gas industry makes deeper commitments to reduce methane emissions

January 23, 2020

At a meeting in London on 16 January, signatory companies to the Methane Guiding Principles committed to undertake a broad range of actions to strengthen the management of methane emissions along the gas value chain. GIE and MARCOGAZ, as Supporting Organisations to the Methane Guiding Principles, had an active participation in this meeting.

The companies agreed to host and fund training courses targeted at the executive level as well as staff directly responsible for quantifying, reporting and/or mitigating methane emissions. This training addresses knowledge gaps through educational material which covers methane science, methane reduction strategies and planning and measurement techniques, among other topics.

GIE and MARCOGAZ, together with the Energy Community Secretariat and the Methane Guiding Principles, have already organised one of these training sessions , delivered on the 26th and 27th of November in Vienna with a special focus on Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Other priority actions agreed in London include:

• Supporting timely European Union (EU) legislation that achieves ambitious methane emissions reduction outcomes across the supply chain of natural gas sold and used in the EU. A representative of DG ENER participated in the session to provide an overview on the potential contents of the future EU methane regulations;
• Developing additional material to complement the Best Practice Guides, Synopses and Tools , developed in 2019 to offer practical solutions for companies looking to mitigate their methane emissions. GIE and MARCOGAZ have committed to develop further the content on the transmission and distribution segments of the gas supply chain;
• Supporting the expansion of the International Energy Agency’s Methane Tracker and a database and roadmap to support regulators to establish methane regulation; and
• GIE and MARCOGAZ will deal specifically in the following actions: standard on methane emissions quantification; guidelines for setting methane emissions reduction targets; and harmonised definitions along the complete gas value chain.

“It was a very fruitful meeting where participants openly debated the activities they are all carrying out to follow the 5 principles – it was an excellent combination of views and works expressed by the industry, NGOs and international organisations” said Francisco de la Flor, GIE and MARCOGAZ Board member.

Twenty-one companies are now signatories to the Methane Guiding Principles, up from eight companies two years ago. There are also fourteen supporting organisations . GIE and MARCOGAZ became supporting organisations in July 2019 and are represented by Francisco de la Flor.

This voluntary, international, multi-stakeholder initiative between industry and non-industry organisations focuses on priority areas for action to continually reduce emissions of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – along the natural gas supply chain, from production to the final consumer.

More information about the activities of the Methane Guiding Principles partnership can be found on its website: www.methaneguidingprinciples.org .

Note to editors

Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) is an association representing the interests of gas infrastructure operators active in gas transmission, storage and LNG regasification. GIE is a trusted partner of European institutions, regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders. It is based in Brussels, the heart of European policymaking.

GIE currently represents 70 member companies from 26 countries. Its internal structure has three columns corresponding to the three types of infrastructure activities represented: GTE (Gas Transmission Europe), GSE (Gas Storage Europe) and GLE (Gas LNG Europe), all of which fall under the umbrella of GIE. This structure allows member companies to speak with one voice on infrastructure topics as well as to build positions on column-specific issues. To find out more about GIE’s structure and activities, please visit the website at www.gie.eu .