US talks methane abatement with Russia: press
US and Russian officials discussed ways to join forces on ways to reduce methane emissions, Russian news outlet Tass reported November 5.
Tass reported the US special envoy for climate change John Kerry was already scheduled to discuss broad-based climate issues with his Russian counterpart, Ruslan Edelgeriyev. From the sidelines of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Kerry said that he had touched base with Moscow on ways to curb emissions.
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“We were talking about how we might deal with methane, possibly work together,” he was quoted as saying.
Both nations are world leaders in crude oil and natural gas production. From leaks to flaring, however, the industry is among the largest emitters of methane, a greenhouse gas with far more warming potential than CO2.
US president Joe Biden this week introduced a measure that would target methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, including a possible royalty fee for flaring and venting. He also lashed out at Russia and others for not sending heads-of-state to the UN-led climate summit.
Russian president Vladimir Putin, however, attended an October 31 meeting of the G20 economies via video conference and raised climate issues there.
“We are consistently implementing a policy to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions and are taking steps to improve energy efficiency in our national economy, to modernise our power generation industry, and reduce associated gas discharge from oil production,” Putin told the G20.