The 29th annual Conference of the Parties (COP29) has begun in Baku, Azerbaijan, running from November 13th to 24th. Delegates, climate advocates, and world leaders are convening to tackle the urgent issue of climate change.
This year’s event builds on COP28 in Dubai, where over 150 nations endorsed the Global Methane Pledge (GMP or the Pledge), aiming to cut methane emissions—a greenhouse gas over 80 times more potent than CO2—by at least 30% by 2030, relative to 2020 levels. Launched at COP26 in Glasgow, the GMP targets emissions across oil and gas, agriculture and waste management sectors to drive rapid reductions.
While countries like the US, EU members and Canada have committed to ambitious targets, nations such as China and India are taking initial steps, though their commitments remain less defined. COP29 is expected to focus on advancing methane mitigation through improved monitoring, stricter regulations and new technologies.
Expectations for COP29
Today’s thematic Energy Day focused heavily on methane, with discussions centring on practical steps for nations to fulfil their commitments under the Pledge.
Announcements centred around new methane reduction technologies, financing for methane mitigation, and policy alignments among participating countries to ensure that the 2030 targets are met.
Announcements have already been made by companies such as TotalEnergies, which revealed that it will go a step further in the monitoring and reduction of its methane emissions by deploying continuous detection equipment on all its operated Upstream assets.
This builds upon the energy giant’s target set in 2022 to aim for near-zero methane operated emissions by 2030. According to a company statement, TotalEnergies is on track to achieve the targeted 80% reduction by 2030.
“Slashing down methane emissions is a short-term priority to contribute to the fight against climate change,” said Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies.
“Continuous, real-time detection will enable our operators to act in an even more decisive manner in order to reduce our methane emissions and to repair leaks to achieve our near-zero methane emissions ambition.”
The continuous detection plan will use technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things) sensors, InfraRed cameras, flowmeters and Predictive Emissions Monitoring Systems on combustion sources, all to be put in place by the end of 2025.
It was announced during the event that Baker Hughes and SOCAR have signed a contract for a gas recovery and H2S removal system at SOCAR’s Heydar Aliyev Oil Refinery in Baku, which aims to reduce emissions associated with flaring.
More than 400 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions and other pollutants, including methane, are produced annually by gas flaring, according to World Bank estimates.
Using Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement technologies, the system will recover up to seven million Nm³ of methane and cut CO2 emissions by 11,000 tonnes annually. Recovered gas will replace flared gas as refinery fuel, reducing operating costs while enhancing efficiency and sustainability at the site.
“We must reduce emissions by 45% this decade to put us on the right path to reach Net Zero by 2050. The industry has an imperative to act now, and we can do it with existing technology solutions that can be deployed today,” said Baker Hughes Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Simonelli.
A new initiative has also been announced by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On November 12th, the organisation finalised a rule to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
“The final Waste Emissions Charge is the latest in a series of actions under President Biden’s methane strategy to improve efficiency in the oil and gas sector, support American jobs, protect clean air, and reinforce US leadership on the global stage,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.
This rule enforces the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)’s Waste Emissions Charge, applying to facilities emitting over 25,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per year.
Starting at $900 per metric tonne in 2024, the charge aims to enable the reduction of 1.2 million metric tonnes of methane emissions by 2035.
“Along with EPA’s complementary set of technology standards and historic financial and technical resources under the Inflation Reduction Act, today’s action ensures that America continues to lead in deploying technologies and innovations that lower our emissions,” added Regan.
Regan’s statement highlights the importance of innovation and leadership in reducing emissions, but it also underscores the need for accurate reporting from industry.
Without transparent data, efforts to tackle methane emissions risk being undermined – an issue amplified by calls at COP29 to ban LNG exports from regions like Texas and New Mexico due to their high environmental impact.
Speaking at a ‘We Don’t Have Time’ session in the World Climate Action Summit at COP29, Sharon Wilson, Director at Oilfield Witness, said methane levels are always higher than reported by industry.
“Not just the UK, but everyone needs to ban LNG from Texas – it’s some of the dirtiest gas you can get. Also from New Mexico, the oil exports from the Permian – they can’t produce it without the gas, and there’s more associated gas, so there’s a real problem producing oil and gas in the Permian basin, it’s just dirty.”
Methane satellite reporting is being seen as a monitoring solution. “I’m a fan of satellites but people need to understand they have many limitations,” she said. “And monitoring methane from the sky doesn’t stop methane – there is one site in the Permian Basin which has shown up on the database 22 times in 11 months, ending in April. It just keeps emitting like crazy.”
Satellite monitoring
MethaneSAT, developed by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) with the New Zealand Space Agency, launched onboard a SpaceX rocket in March.
Costing $88 million, the satellite offers unprecedented high-resolution data, identifying smaller leaks overlooked by earlier technologies. Unlike commercial data, MethaneSAT’s findings are publicly available, enabling transparency and accountability.
Its 140-meter resolution outperforms satellites like Sentinel-5P, providing near-global coverage and detecting methane changes as small as three parts per billion. MethaneSAT’s data aids the UN’s methane observatory and monitors emissions from oil, gas, coal, agriculture and landfills.
©MethaneSAT
Newly released data from MethaneSAT indicates significant emissions from the Appalachian, Permian and Uinta basins in the US, as well as Turkmenistan’s South Caspian and Amu Darya basins and Venezuela’s Maturin basin.
Initial findings reveal emissions in North American and Central Asian basins are far higher than previously reported. For instance, the Permian basin shows loss rates of 1.8%-2.9%, nine times the 0.2% target set for 2030. The Uinta basin recorded loss rates of 9%, attributed to aging infrastructure. Methane emissions in the South Caspian basin were measured at up to 420 tonnes per hour, over 10 times higher than reported in the EDGAR 2022 database.
“MethaneSAT represents a significant advance in remote sensing technology that offers powerful insights for many kinds of stakeholders,” said Dr. Ritesh Gautam, Lead Scientist for MethaneSAT. “The ability to quantify total methane emissions over wide areas with high precision and high resolution makes it an effective, complementary and globally accessible tool to track changes in emissions in order to meet global methane mitigation goals.”
