Green Alliance published a report on how the UK could meet its commitments to the Global Methane Pledge yesterday (2 November).
A year since the UK government signed the Pledge at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, it has made “little headway” in showing how it will cut methane emissions to meet its 30% reduction target, Green Alliance says.
The report notes that Scotland will ban the landfilling of organic waste by 2025 while the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs has proposed a similar ban in England for 2028.
However, a ban in 2028 would only cut an extra 1% of landfill methane emissions by 2030, Green Alliance claims, “because of the time lag between waste arriving in landfill and the production of methane.”
Banning organic waste from landfill in 2025 – alongside tighter requirements on capturing landfill gas – would lead to a 62% drop in methane emissions from the waste sector when compared to 2020, Green Alliance says.
Combined with other actions, implementing a ban from 2025 could help the UK to exceed the minimum contribution to the 30% Global Methane Pledge, Green Alliance says, resulting in a 43% cut in emissions by 2030.
Landfill gas
The report notes that the landfill tax, introduced in 1996, and support for landfill gas capture from the mid-2000s have led to “rapidly declining” methane emissions from waste.
As a result, Green Alliance says, the waste sector has seen a reduction of 68% in UK methane emissions since 1990.
Landfill gas capture rates peaked at 74% in 2016 but fell to around 70% in 2020 as biogas incentives “waned”, Green Alliance says.
The charity and think tank says landfill operators should be required to capture 80% by 2030. It claims this would cut landfill methane emissions by an additional 24%, while high gas prices would make it “profitable”.
The additional benefits of capturing methane from waste include improved air quality and a “ready supply” of biogas which could be used as fuel, Green Alliance says.
‘Keeping 1.5 alive’
Dustin Benton, policy director at Green Alliance, said: “The UK is handing over its COP presidency to Egypt this year, with the goal of ‘keeping 1.5 alive’.
“Because methane emissions are accelerating the warming of the planet faster than carbon dioxide, it’s essential that both methane and carbon dioxide are cut rapidly.
“Our work is the first to show how the UK can exceed its global methane pledge by 2030 using low-cost policies that not only reduce methane emissions but also create new industries in alternative proteins and improve our energy security in the face of the gas crisis.”
Related link
The Global Methane Pledge: How the UK can meet its commitment
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