Fast Track to Net Zero

Methane abatement is critical for near-term climate action, requiring a 45% reduction in global emissions by 2030. The report highlights that the energy sector has the highest technical abatement potential, while agriculture is dominated by behavioural change opportunities. It identifies five national sector archetypes—China's coal, India's smallholder agriculture, Brazil's livestock, Indonesia's waste, and O&G exporters—to provide scalable policy lessons. Significant financing gaps exist, with only USD 13.7bn tracked in 2021/22 against an estimated annual need of USD 48bn. The report advocates for methane-specific targets in NDCs, the use of satellite monitoring to close data gaps, and the implementation of import standards and carbon pricing to drive global supply chain reductions.

• Achieving the 1.5°C temperature goal requires a 45% reduction in global methane emissions by 2030, which is technically feasible through available abatement measures.
• Anthropogenic methane emissions are dominated by three sectors: agriculture (42%), energy (37%), and waste (19%). The energy sector, specifically oil and gas, offers the highest technical abatement potential, with 77% of emissions potentially abatable using existing technologies.
• Methane emissions are highly concentrated, with seven countries accounting for half of all anthropogenic methane emissions. The coal sector in China alone is responsible for 5% of global emissions.
• There is a severe global financing gap for methane abatement; tracked finance was USD 13.7bn in 2021/22, while the estimated annual need up to 2030 is USD 48bn.
• The top 30 highest emitting companies account for 17% of global methane emissions, with many being state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or national oil companies (NOCs).
• Methane-specific targets in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are currently lacking; while 95% of NDCs include methane in overall targets, only 20% assess mitigation potential and only 19% include fossil fuel sector measures.
• Satellite monitoring is essential to address the global monitoring gap and reveal discrepancies between reported and observed emissions, particularly in the fossil fuel sector.
• Import standards and carbon border adjustment mechanisms (CBAM) are identified as powerful levers for importing countries to drive abatement in high-emitting exporting nations.
• In the agricultural sector, behavioural changes such as dietary shifts and food waste reduction can triple the abatement potential compared to technical measures alone.
• Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) provide over 50% of public investment in methane abatement but often lack explicit methane targets in their overarching climate strategies.

APA

Burge, L., Van Coppenolle, M., & Amir, N. (2025). Fast Track to Net Zero. Climate Bonds Initiative. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Fast-Track-to-Net-Zero-Methane-Abatement.pdf

Chicago

Burge, Lily, Magali Van Coppenolle, and Natasha Amir. Fast Track to Net Zero. Climate Bonds Initiative, 2025. https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Fast-Track-to-Net-Zero-Methane-Abatement.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Burge |first1=Lily |last2=Van Coppenolle |first2=Magali |last3=Amir |first3=Natasha |title=Fast Track to Net Zero |publisher=Climate Bonds Initiative |date=October 2025 |url=https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Fast-Track-to-Net-Zero-Methane-Abatement.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{burge2025fast, author = {Burge, Lily and Van Coppenolle, Magali and Amir, Natasha}, title = {{Fast Track to Net Zero}}, institution = {Climate Bonds Initiative}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://www.climatebonds.net/files/documents/publications/Fast-Track-to-Net-Zero-Methane-Abatement.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }