The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to tighten rules on methane emissions from oil and gas wells, tightening monitoring and repair obligations and also targeting energy imports into the European Union.
The text adopted by MEPs in plenary, which will now be negotiated with Member States, also calls on the European Commission to set a “binding target” for reducing EU methane emissions from the energy sector by 2030.
The EU committed itself at the COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 to reduce by 30% by 2030 (compared to 2020) its methane emissions, a greenhouse gas with a warming power approximately 80 times greater than CO2 over twenty years. But no binding targets were then detailed in the Commission’s proposal to limit emissions from fossil fuel extraction. The legislation will require oil and gas companies and coal miners to inspect their equipment frequently and repair leaks immediately.
MEPs voted to increase the frequency of checks and, above all, to drastically lower the thresholds at which leaks must be detected and plugged – rules that are much stricter than those proposed by the Commission and endorsed by the Member States at the end of December. “The positions of the Council (the body representing the States) were not very ambitious”, while for the gas and oil industry, “three quarters of methane emissions can be avoided by simple measures and without major investments”, pleaded the German MEP Jutta Paulus (Greens), rapporteur of the text.
The Parliament also approves a ban, except for safety reasons, on routine flaring, a common practice of burning gas out of a well or mine for logistical or economic reasons, which releases huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere.
And contrary to the Commission’s plan, MEPs called for the new rules to apply to fossil fuels imported into the EU from 2026 onwards: importers of gas, coal and oil would be required to check that European standards for detecting and repairing leaks have been met during extraction.
“Europe imports more than 80% of the fossil fuels it burns, it is essential to extend the scope to energy imports,” insisted Ms. Paulus, calling for “fair market rules for everyone.” Other European texts under discussion aim to restrict emissions in agriculture and industry.
