Methane (Environment and Climate Change Committee Report)

Earl Russell Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Grand Committee

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, before I start my speech, I will reflect the comments that we have just heard. I did not manage to get into the noble Viscount’s Oral Question today, but I am deeply concerned about what the Americans are doing to the fundamental scientific basis for our understanding of climate, so I echo those comments.

As a member of this Select Committee, I speak in support of the report, and I thank our excellent clerks and researchers and everyone who made it possible, including our witnesses and our chair. If the noble Lord, Lord Jay, is a climate methane learner, at times I felt like a methane mediator. This was a difficult report to get over the line, but I am very pleased that we managed to do so. I also thank the Government and the Minister for their response. I note that we have a shared ambition in this area, if somewhat different approaches.

I will speak on the need for urgency in the global fight against climate change and on the need to buy time in our fight for survival, which can be brought about only by cutting our methane emissions now. I want to see the Government become the global champion that the pledge deserves. The UK has a real opportunity, having joined Brazil in co-chairing the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The one thing that we do not have is time. As Bill McKibben has said:

“If we don’t win very quickly on climate change, then we will never win … It’s what makes it different from every other problem our political systems have faced”.


As we have heard, methane is the second-most significant greenhouse gas. While it has a short lifespan— I like the analogy between the bully and the teacher—compared to carbon dioxide, its potency as a heat-trapping gas is far greater: it is some 80 times more powerful than CO₂ over 20 years. As the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, said, in that way, it is a devastating gas. Methane emissions contribute to one-third of global warming. Tackling methane is rightly recognised as one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to limit the near-term global temperature rises.

Professor Forster, in his evidence to the committee, said that such actions

“could lower the trajectory of global warming from 0.25 degrees celsius per decade to 0.1 degrees celsius”.

Cutting methane emissions rapidly does not just limit future warming; it slows rates of warming over the coming decades to buy time to implement the deeper and far more complex decarbonisation actions that we must take. Methane cuts are essential in reducing the immediate, devastating and costly real-world impacts of extreme weather and crop loss that we face now and will experience much more going into the 2040s. We have no other policy options to buy time—this is the only one.

The noble Earl, Lord Leicester, said that we should rightly be proud of what the UK has achieved to date. We achieved a 62% drop between 1990 and 2020, a larger percentage than any other OECD country. The UK rightly played a pivotal role in the Global Methane Pledge at COP 26, where 150 countries signed up to reduce their methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

I welcome the Government’s engagement with our recommendations—that is beneficial. The Government point to the existing delivery plan for carbon budgets and the framework for tackling methane. They highlight ongoing work across sectors and are leveraging the UK’s expertise internationally. However, our report argues that the Government must go further if the UK is truly to solidify its role as a global leader and champion the methane reductions required. The Select Committee recommends publishing a dedicated UK methane action plan providing clarity and focus for all sectors, including sector-specific targets and plans. As the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, said, it is disappointing that the Government have disagreed with this recommendation, saying instead that they are covered in existing budgets. While methane is indeed part of the broader net-zero strategy, the unique nature of methane and the opportunities it presents warrant a specific, transparent and dedicated plan outlining priority actions, costs and benefits.

I will just say a quick word specifically about the sector. Farming is now the key sector: it is the largest UK source, contributing half of all our methane, 85% of which comes from cattle. As the noble Lord, Lord Grantchester, said, farming is perhaps more exposed than any other sector in the UK. Indeed, as we move forward, we have very difficult choices ahead. It is important that we have a balance in these things, but there are certain quick wins that we can do. We need slurry management, selective breeding and the farming and food road map. As the noble Lord, Lord Trees, said, farmers have the knowledge but need the power to do something about this.

In our energy sector, we are wasting enough energy from venting and flaring to power 700,000 homes. Venting and flaring need to end. I point out the recommendation for urgent transparency and accountability in these sectors.

Turning to waste, we need to do more and make sure that we have food collection across the country and enough anaerobic digesters to make that target a reality. We need to do more on landfill and about the fact that waste crime is out of control in this country, with 18% of our waste ending up in the hands of criminals.

The Government mention the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority and are considering including methane emissions from the upstream oil and gas sector. This is welcome, but it is not the commitment needed to align with our international partners, who are developing robust standards, including for imports. Robust MMRV is critical for both domestic progress and international accountability. I hope that we will see a UK-EU ETS alignment soon and that the UK will meet EU standards in this area.

The report called for the UK to use its expertise to encourage the establishment of an international body to verify the methane pledge participants’ action plans. The Government’s response points to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition as being a well-placed body. We recognise that it is valuable, but we call specifically for a body focused on verification to ensure accountability and the transparency of data. Data from the UN’s alert system, highlighted at COP 29, showed a stark gap: more than 1,200 alerts about large oil and gas plumes were issued, but only 1% of those resulted in mitigation steps. Data is helpful but if nothing is done with it, it is no better than having no data at all.

The UK, having co-launched this, has a real opportunity. We should go beyond domestic action and do more in the international sphere. We should not be content with just keeping our work at home. We now have 25 satellites orbiting the world; super emitters have nowhere to hide. Abating leaks needs to be done on an international scale. As somebody in the UN said:

“It’s plumbing. It’s not rocket science”.


Abandoned fossil fuel infrastructure now emits more methane than Iran and is fourth-largest global source. The International Energy Agency’s Global Methane Tracker 2025 report, just issued, shows that global methane emissions are stubbornly high. There were nearly 120 million tonnes of methane emissions in 2023, and the global energy sector may have emissions that are 70% higher than officially reported.

I call on the Government to do more with our international oil and gas expertise, particularly in leak detection and repair, and to do more to help countries that are struggling to repair their leaks. This is one way in which the UK Government could demonstrate their leadership in this area and provide a very useful source of help to the globe.

To conclude, a dedicated methane action plan is necessary for clarity and focus, particularly for harder to abate areas. I call on the UK to go further and really be the true champion this treaty requires. Deploying our technical expertise to help identify and fix large leaks internationally is a powerful example of how we can drive action, slow the immediate pace of global warming and keep up the vital momentum on this crucial climate issue.