The US government is funding projects to tackle methane emissions

24 June 2024 | Muriel Cozier

The investment is aimed at driving the deployment of available and advanced technologies.

The US government has opened applications for a share of $850 million to projects that will help monitor, measure and reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act and will specifically help small oil and natural gas operators reduce methane emissions and transition to methane reduction technologies.

Other objectives of the funding include; speeding up the repair of methane leaks from low-producing wells and the deployment of early commercial technology, along with enhancing the detection and measurement of methane emissions at regional scale, while ensuring consistency of data nationwide.

Funding is open to ‘a broad range of eligible US entities’ including academia, industry, NGOs, tribes, and state and local governments. The deadline for applications is 26 August.

The funding opportunity is part of the US government’s Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan. ‘These investments from the Investing in America agenda will drive the deployment of available and advanced technologies to better understand where methane emissions are coming from. That will help us more effectively reduce harmful pollution, tackle the climate crisis and create good-paying jobs,’ said Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan.

In the final quarter of 2023, the US government released the country’s first National Strategy to Advance an Integrated US Greenhouse Gas Measurement, Monitoring and Information System (pdf), which is aimed at improving coordination and integration of greenhouse gas measurement and monitoring.

Last year, the International Energy Agency warned that based on the prevailing trajectory, total methane emissions from human activity could rise by 13% between 2020 and 2030. Setting out the priorities in a report, The Imperative of Cutting Methane from Fossil Fuels, the IEA said that while the move to clean energy drives down fossil fuel use, and therefore methane emissions, this is not enough to cut these emissions at the scale and rate needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

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