Regulation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector and the weakening of the proposal by the Council

The signatories argue that the Council's draft of the Methane Regulation introduces loopholes and exceptions that would significantly reduce its mitigation potential, specifically regarding leak detection frequencies, venting and flaring rules, and coal sector thresholds.

• The Council's proposed changes to Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) frequencies would reduce inspections from the Commission's proposed three-month interval to six months at best, and as low as three years for some equipment.
• The Council's proposal includes a risk-based approach allowing lower LDAR frequencies if less than 1% of an operator's components leaked over five years, which the authors claim incentivises not finding leaks and mirrors a failed US approach from over a decade ago.
• The Council's version of the regulation would allow industry to choose venting over flaring under certain circumstances without authority approval, creating a risk of "unchecked self-assessment".
• Regarding the coal sector, the Council has increased the threshold for prohibiting methane venting ten-fold and extended the timeframe for regulating coking coal venting from three to five years.
• The authors estimate that methane saved from leaks could total 600 kt per year, which is equivalent to the annual gas consumption of nearly 1 million French homes.

APA

Clean Air Task Force (2022). Regulation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector and the weakening of the proposal by the Council. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/15173228/open-letter-methane-regulation-commission.pdf

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. Regulation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector and the weakening of the proposal by the Council. 2022. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/15173228/open-letter-methane-regulation-commission.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=Regulation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector and the weakening of the proposal by the Council |date=15 December 2022 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/15173228/open-letter-methane-regulation-commission.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{cleanairtaskforce2022regulation, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{Regulation on methane emissions reduction in the energy sector and the weakening of the proposal by the Council}}, publisher = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2022}, month = dec, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/15173228/open-letter-methane-regulation-commission.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }