China methane reduction plan to be released soon, but may lack clear targets - sources (updated)

China First Capital

02/11/2023 19:52

(Adds dates for US-China bilateral meeting on climate change)
    By Valerie Volcovici
       WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - China, the world's largest
emitter of methane, is expected to unveil its strategy to cut
output of the greenhouse gas "imminently" but may stop short of
setting specific reduction targets, two people familiar with the
plan said.
    China produces over 14% of global methane emissions, but has
so far resisted pressure to join a global pact to cut its
methane output 30% by 2030 that was signed by over 150 other
nations, led by the U.S.
    "I would say that what we could expect from this is going to
be a very detailed plan of policies - of different regulations -
that will be enacted," said Marcelo Mena, head of the Global
Methane Hub and former environment minister of Chile. He said he
discussed the plan with China's special climate envoy Xie
Zhenhua during a visit to China last month.
    Mena told Reuters the plan focuses on some of China's most
challenging methane sources, including emissions from coal mine
seams and agriculture - including rice production - but he did
not see any numerical targets in the plan.  
    He said Xie told him the plan would be published before, or
at, the upcoming, two-week COP28 climate summit in Dubai, which
begins on Nov. 30.
    "This will be likely the most ambitious commitment and will
cut the biggest chunk out of emissions from developing
countries," he said.
    Another person familiar with the plans who declined to be
named because they were not authorized to speak to the media
said that China has been reluctant to include numerical targets
in the strategy given concerns raised by its agriculture and
energy ministries about the impact.
    China's environment ministry did not immediately respond to
questions on when the report would appear and whether it would
include hard targets. 
    The ministry said last week that it was "pushing forward"
the publication of the plan, state media reported, but it did
not give a timeframe.   
    The agriculture ministry last year recommended new farming
practices, such as paddy irrigation management and low-protein
diets for livestock, as ways to bring down methane.
    A study published in August by scientists at California's
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggested that reforms to
China's industrial and agriculture sectors could lead to 30-40%
reduction in methane from 2015 levels by the end of the decade.
    China's massive coal sector could prove the biggest
challenge since the country is the world's largest source of
methane from coal mines, with 28% of the world's biggest methane
emissions points, according to environmental research group
Kayrros.
    The second source said China is expected to unveil its
methane plan before resuming bilateral talks with the U.S. this
week at Sunnylands in California ahead of the APEC summit in San
Francisco.
    Sunnylands, a retreat located in the southern California
desert, was where former US President Barack Obama and Chinese
President Xi Jinping reached a historic agreement 10 years ago,
which led to a US-China climate deal that paved the way for the
2015 Paris Agreement. 
    Chinese officials on Thursday confirmed the meeting will
take place from Nov 4 to 7.
    The U.S. and China first agreed at the Glasgow climate
summit in 2021 to work together on measuring and reducing
methane.
    China has already set a goal to bring carbon dioxide
emissions to a peak by 2030 and achieve net-zero CO2 emissions
by 2060.

 (Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; additional reporting by David
Stanway in Singapore; editing by Miral Fahmy and David Gregorio)
 ((valerie.volcovici@thomsonreuters.com))