WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States will slash methane emissions by 41 million tons over the next 14 years, targeting the equivalent of the pollution caused by all US automobiles and commercial jets in 2019 as part of its commitment to the COP26 Summit, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.
"As global leaders convene at this pivotal moment in Glasgow for COP26, it is now abundantly clear that America is back and leading by example in confronting the climate crisis with bold ambition,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “The proposed rule would reduce 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, the equivalent of 920 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.”
That would be the equivalent of the carbon dioxide emitted from all US passenger cars and commercial aircraft in 2019, Regan said. “In 2030 alone, the rule would reduce methane emissions from sources covered in the proposal by 74 percent compared to 2005,” the statement said.
The EPA acknowledged that the US oil and natural gas industry was the largest industrial source of methane emissions, emitting more methane than the total emissions of all greenhouse gases from 164 countries combined.
Oil and natural gas operations also emit smog-forming volatile organic compounds (VOC) and toxic air pollutants such as benzene that harm public health, the statement said.
“EPA analyzed the proposed rule’s impact on natural gas and oil prices from 2023 to 2035 and estimates that changes would be small - pennies per barrel of oil or thousand cubic feet of gas,” the statement said.
On the part of the United States, the value of cumulative net climate benefits from the proposed rule, after taking into account the costs of compliance as well as savings from recovered natural gas, would be $48 to $49 billion from 2023 to 2035 - or the equivalent of about $4.5 billion a year, the statement added.
The climate benefits were estimated using the social cost of greenhouse gases and represented the monetary value of avoided climate damages associated with a decrease in emissions of greenhouse gas. In addition to the monetary benefits, EPA said it has estimated that from 2023 to 2025, the proposal would reduce VOC emissions by 12 million tons and hazardous air pollution by 480,000 tons.
