China and U.S. deepen cooperation on reducing methane emissions

China looks forward to maintaining communication and deepening practical cooperation with the United States, to jointly explore new pathways and methods for controlling the emission of methane, a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment said on Friday.

The ministry made the remarks in a media release following a video conference of the sub working group on methane under the China-U.S. Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s.

Zhao Yingmin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, participated in the conference on Thursday, alongside Jane Nishida, acting deputy administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Rick Duke, the U.S. deputy special envoy for climate.

As the second most abundant global manmade greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, methane has more than 80 times the warming power of CO2 during the first 20 years it is in the atmosphere.

The participants in the conference reviewed their work so far this year, giving full recognition to the success of three workshops of the sub working group, the release said.

Recognizing the significant role of the sub working group in strengthening collaboration and exchanges regarding methane emission control, the U.S. delegation expressed its readiness to sustain dialogues and collaboration with China in crucial methane emission control domains, and to expand offline engagement, the release said.

It added that the U.S. side hopes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the field of environmental protection alongside China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

China and the U.S. decided to operationalize the Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s to engage in dialogue and cooperation to accelerate concrete climate actions in the 2020s after Xie Zhenhua, China's former special envoy for climate change, met his then U.S. counterpart, John Kerry, at Sunnylands, California in November 2023.

The working group has sub working groups specializing in energy transition, methane, the circular economy, resource efficiency, low-carbon, sustainable provinces/states and cities, and deforestation.

Under the mechanism, the two sides will carry out information exchanges on policies, measures, and technologies for controlling and reducing emissions, share their respective experiences, and identify and implement cooperative projects, as agreed by the countries.

The working group is co-led by the two country's special envoys on climate change, with the appropriate participation of officials from the relevant ministries and government agencies.

China and the U.S. will co-host a summit focusing on methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases at this year's United Nations climate change conference, which is slated to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from Nov 11 to Nov 22, the two sides announced after a meeting of the working group in September in Beijing.