Methane Abatement in Sustainable Taxonomies

This executive summary, published by the Climate Policy Initiative and Climate Bonds Initiative in December 2025, provides a framework of best-practice measures for incorporating methane abatement into sustainable finance taxonomies. It identifies critical gaps in current taxonomies and proposes science-based, investable criteria across four high-potential sectors: energy, agriculture, solid waste, and wastewater.

• Annual investment in methane abatement is significantly below required levels, with 2021/22 investments of less than USD 14 billion and a preliminary drop to around USD 6 billion in 2023, compared to an estimated annual requirement of USD 48 billion through 2030.
• Sustainable finance taxonomies can catalyze methane mitigation by identifying sustainable projects, supporting instruments like green bonds and blended finance, and reducing transaction costs through cross-jurisdictional alignment.
• The report analyzed five specific taxonomies as case studies to assess methane abatement coverage: Colombia, the European Union (EU), Indonesia, South Africa, and Thailand.
• Best-practice measures for the energy sector include the implementation of Leakage Detection and Repair (LDAR) and specific lifecycle GHG emission thresholds for bioenergy. For electricity generation from bioenergy, the maximum specific GHG emissions are set at 36.6 gCO2e/MJ, while heat/cooling generation is capped at 16 gCO2e/MJ (or 37.2 for proved coal substitution).
• In the agriculture sector, best practices for livestock include dietary manipulation to mitigate enteric fermentation, selective breeding, and feed management plans aiming for a methane reduction of at least 10% per treated animal. For rice production, measures include reducing flooding days by at least 10% through improved irrigation and the use of low-GHG rice varieties.
• For solid waste and wastewater, best practices emphasize the transition from flaring-only systems to value-added biogas use within 3 years. Requirements for anaerobic digestion include keeping feedstock or digestate in airtight environments for at least 50 + x days (where x is 2 days per mass percent of non-manure-based feedstock, up to 150 days).
• The framework establishes minimum requirements for Leakage Detection and Repair (LDAR), including mandatory third-party revision for credibility, at least one monthly visual inspection of high-risk components, and annual professional leak quantification.

APA

Wetmańska, Z., Fernandes, P. D. A., Miao, G., Shankar, V., & Alanah, I. (2025). Methane Abatement in Sustainable Taxonomies. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Methane-Abatement-in-Sustainable-Taxonomies-Summary.pdf

Chicago

Wetmańska, Zofia, Pedro de Aragão Fernandes, Gaoyi Miao, Varun Shankar, and Ines Alanah. Methane Abatement in Sustainable Taxonomies. Climate Policy Initiative, 2025. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Methane-Abatement-in-Sustainable-Taxonomies-Summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Wetmańska |first1=Zofia |last2=Fernandes |first2=Pedro de Aragão |last3=Miao |first3=Gaoyi |last4=Shankar |first4=Varun |last5=Alanah |first5=Ines |title=Methane Abatement in Sustainable Taxonomies |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=December 2025 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Methane-Abatement-in-Sustainable-Taxonomies-Summary.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{wetmaska2025methane, author = {Wetmańska, Zofia and Fernandes, Pedro de Aragão and Miao, Gaoyi and Shankar, Varun and Alanah, Ines}, title = {{Methane Abatement in Sustainable Taxonomies}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2025}, month = dec, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Methane-Abatement-in-Sustainable-Taxonomies-Summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }