Coal mine methane: a missed opportunity for EU’s CBAM

(EurActiv, 6 Sep 2021) The EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism had an opportunity to include methane in its scope and act against sources of the potent greenhouse gas, but this was left out of the final published draft. Future EU climate legislation cannot afford to make the same mistake, writes Anatoli Smirnov.

Anatoli Smirnov is an analyst at the energy think tank Ember.

The EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ package, adopted on 14 July, saw the EU attempting to raise ambition on climate policies across sectors to meet the scale of the challenge set by climate change.

One of the many included proposals is the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), which seeks to prevent greenhouse gas emissions ‘leaking’ over the border by taxing carbon-intensive imports from regions with less stringent emissions policies.

However, the CBAM applies mostly to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, excluding other climate-warming gases such as methane — a missed opportunity in the fight to address climate change.

While tackling CO2 emissions is rightfully a key priority in EU climate action, methane is also a powerful greenhouse gas. With increasing recognition of methane’s impacts on climate, such as its prominence in the recent IPCC report, the lack of EU attention is out of step.

The IPCC AR6 calls for immediate, deep reductions of ‘climate forcers’ such as methane to keep to 1.5°C warming. Methane’s greatest threat to the climate is in the short term, with an atmospheric lifetime of only 12 years, compared to hundreds of years for CO2.

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EurActiv, 6 Sep 2021: Coal mine methane: a missed opportunity for EU’s CBAM