Cop28: China has ‘done a lot’ on methane, climate envoy says, as country faces criticism over plan to tackle emissions

Speaking on sidelines of UN climate change summit in Dubai, Xie Zhenhua defends Beijing’s efforts to address the greenhouse gas
Critics say Chinese methane plan falls short because it does not mention overall targets or deadlines for pollution cuts

China and climate change

Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing

Published: 8:30pm, 5 Dec 2023

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Amid criticism over its new plan to control emissions of methane, China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said the country had taken steps to address the greenhouse gas, including reusing it in the coal and oil sectors.

Speaking at the China pavilion at the United Nations climate change summit in Dubai on Monday, Xie said China had “already done a lot” to control methane emissions, state-backed China News Service reported.

China issued its first ever methane plan last month, but critics have complained that the long-delayed document falls short because it does not mention the overall target or deadlines for pollution cuts.

Methane is a greenhouse gas that can trap much more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. China is by far the world’s biggest methane emitter, accounting for more than 14 per cent of the global total.

Xie acknowledged that while China lacked an overall methane plan before last month, that “doesn’t mean no work has been done”, he said in a meeting on methane abatement in the oil and gas industry held on the sidelines of the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (Cop28).

China did not treat methane as waste but saw it as a resource and had used it for industries including coal, oil, gas, urban waste and agriculture, Xie said, adding that the country planned to do more to increase its capacity in methane control and reduction.

China’s November methane plan emphasises improving monitoring and supervision of methane emissions through a framework for local governments, enterprises and financial institutions.

It was issued after a much-discussed meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco, where climate change was identified as a key area of consensus.

In response to criticism, Xie said the methane plan was China’s “top-level design” and would guide future work in controlling emissions of the greenhouse gas. He added that the country would carry out its methane actions “step by step, in accordance with its own national conditions and at its own pace”, according to China News Service.

Methane is responsible for around 30 per cent of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, according to the International Energy Agency’s estimates. Rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions are considered crucial for limiting near-term global warming and improving air quality.

China has not joined a 2021 US-led action plan to cut methane output by 30 per cent by 2030. Fellow big polluters India and Russia have not joined either.

Last week, Xie pledged that China would set new emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2035 as part of global efforts to fight climate change.

As the world’s biggest carbon dioxide emitter, China has made an ambitious pledge to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions before 2060.

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