We made it!
We hear it was pretty tricky for some folks to get in this morning (pro-tip: Security was a breeze around 8 am!). The World Leaders Summit is underway, the Blue Zone is bustling, and we’re about 24 hours out from the Methane Pledge announcement. For those of you keeping score in the U.S., remember the UK shifted back an hour last night, so take that into account when you’re doing your time zone math.
Here’s what’s happening in methane:
New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham: Our “toughest, highest” methane standards set the bar
The Methane Moment pavilion in the Blue Zone (come see us just inside door 5A!) opened our speaker series with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who spoke about her state’s plans to cut methane emissions 98% by 2026. “If we can do it, all of the energy-producing states can do it,” she told EDF’s SVP Mark Brownstein. “The federal government should set the toughest, highest standards, which will be an incentive to the rest of the planet to do the same.” Watch her interview here.
Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana: Methane abatement keeps jobs in our state
Louisiana knows a thing or two about the inexorability of the tides, so when Gov. Edwards says you can’t fight it when the world market turns against fossil fuels, he knows what he’s about. Louisiana is moving hard towards methane abatement, not just because of the climate benefits, but because it creates jobs in his heavy gas-producing state – even more important because the oil and gas jobs won’t be there forever. “Once the world market turns away from something, there’s nothing you can do to reverse that… you have to acknowledge it and to make sure you’re moving in the same direction,” he told Mark. Watch his interview here.
Up next at the Methane Moment Pavilion: Changing Markets panel (4 pm GMT)
Nusa Urbancic, Desmond Alugnoa, and Dagmar Droogsma on the strategies for reducing methane from agriculture and waste and considers what more is needed to push deep declines this decade that can deliver benefits to the climate and communities. (Watch here)
Watch (in) this space
If you’re at COP, you’re invited to come to the Methane Moment pavilion to watch the stream of tomorrow’s Global Methane Pledge signing at 1pm GMT. (And come back for the panel at 4 pm GMT on turning the pledge into action). Also: Check tomorrow’s Methane Minute, where we’ll be crunching the numbers for you on the Pledge commitments.
Methane in the headlines:
- Global watchdog to track promised cuts to potent greenhouse gas methane (October 31) – Reuters
- US urged to back methane pledge by joining global monitoring effort (October 31) – Financial Times
- Cow methane emissions halved by adding seaweed to diet, creamery says (October 31) – Washington Examiner
- Russia’s Dirty Gas Is Keeping Europe From Freezing Over (November 1) – Bloomberg
Upcoming events in Methane:
- 2 November: Global Methane Pledge signing
- 9:30 – Interview: Methane mitigation in Colombia with Minister of Mines and Energy Diego Mesa
- 10:30 – Panel: The Permian Climate Bomb with methane hunter Sharon Wilson and impacted community members
- 16:00 – Panel: Turning Pledges Into Action with Mark Brownstein of EDF, Sarah Smith of CATF, and Kalee Kreider of Global Optimism
- 3 November:
- 9:30 – Interview: Ecopetrol CEO Felipe Bayón
- 10:00 – Interview: Petronas Chief Sustainability Officer Charlotte Wolff-Bye
- 12:00 – EDF Chief Scientist Steve Hamburg on the State of Global Methane Emissions
- 15:00 – Remote Panel: Methane Leakages in Europe
- 17:00 – Interview: Ryan Panchadsaram, co-author of Speed & Scale
Bessie With the Good Hair
(Climate change is scary. Scotland’s highland cattle – aka hairy coos – are very cute. Cattle generate a lot of methane: Sustainable farming practices are an important part of solving climate change.)
Bessie would like to apologize for the backup at security this morning. Her bad.
Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow!
