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COP27: 'Global Methane Pledge' Announces Pathway to Reduce Agriculture Emissions

US climate envoy John Kerry during the announcement of the methane reduction pathway. (AP)
US climate envoy John Kerry during the announcement of the methane reduction pathway. (AP)
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COP27: 'Global Methane Pledge' Announces Pathway to Reduce Agriculture Emissions

US climate envoy John Kerry during the announcement of the methane reduction pathway. (AP)
US climate envoy John Kerry during the announcement of the methane reduction pathway. (AP)

The Global Pledge on Methane announced a pathway to reduce methane emissions in agriculture during Solutions Day at the UN Climate Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The global pledge on methane was discussed during a meeting between US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on September 17, 2021, at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate (MEF).

The Global Methane Pledge was an initiative launched at the World Leaders Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

The US-European initiative seeks to reduce methane emissions in all sectors by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, which could reduce warming by at least 0.2 degrees Celsius by 2050.

The new GMP Food and Agriculture Pathway launched Thursday laid out a set of tools that will be used to help the sector reduce emissions.

According to a US State Department statement, the Green Climate Fund, in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Global Dairy Platform, and Global Methane Hub, approved $3.5 million of project preparation funding that will help transition dairy systems to lower emission, resilient climate pathways in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

IFAD and the US announced a partnership to advance climate resilience and methane mitigation with smallholder farmers, including by prioritizing methane mitigation in IFAD’s pipeline of country and regional projects with a combined investment of over $500 million in methane-emitting sectors.

Washington announced $5 million for the African Development Bank to advance agriculture and waste methane work within the Africa Climate Change Fund.

The Global Methane Hub raised $70 million to support the new Enteric Methane Research and Development Accelerator to advance critical research on reducing methane emissions from enteric fermentation, the largest single source of methane emissions from agriculture.

The USDA is investing more than $500 million in methane reduction projects through Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities.

Last year supported dozens of anaerobic digester projects and a broader range of methane-reducing investments through over $64 million in additional grants and guaranteed loans.

In the European Union, the new Common Agricultural Policy in 2023 emphasizes climate action, including methane from livestock.

In total, 40 percent of the budget will be dedicated to climate-related measures, including improved rules and monitoring requirements and quantitative targets to reduce food waste.

The EU has also published a Biomethane Actions Plan to double production to reach 35 billion cubic meters by 2030.

During the event, US climate envoy John Kerry called on countries to join this pledge to achieve significant reductions in methane emissions, which is more potent than carbon dioxide but short-lived.

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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
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Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.