BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 27. The first-ever EU
rules to curb methane emissions from the energy sector in Europe
and globally have become law today, Trend reports via the European Commission.
This milestone marks another step in implementing the European
Green Deal and REPowerEU, underscoring Europe’s commitment to
tackling harmful emissions both domestically and
internationally.
The new regulation mandates that the fossil gas, oil, and coal
industries in Europe measure, monitor, report, and verify their
methane emissions according to the highest standards. It requires
EU operators to eliminate avoidable and routine flaring, limiting
flaring and venting to emergencies, technical malfunctions, or
safety-related situations.
Given that Europe imports a significant portion of its fossil
energy, the regulation also aims to reduce methane emissions from
imported fossil fuels. Over time, it will introduce more stringent
requirements to ensure exporters gradually adopt the same
monitoring, reporting, and verification standards as EU
operators.
The new rules mandate the Commission to establish a global
methane emitter monitoring tool, utilizing satellite data to
provide information on the magnitude, occurrence, and location of
high methane-emitting sources within and outside the EU.
Additionally, the Commission will create a rapid alert mechanism
for “super-emitting” events—incidents where facilities, equipment,
or infrastructure emit exceptionally high levels of methane. This
mechanism will serve as an early warning system, detecting
super-emitting events and alerting the relevant EU or non-EU
authorities to take prompt action to mitigate or prevent them.
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