EU Commission documents reveal pressure over methane rules

EU ambassadors are due to make a third attempt in a matter of weeks on Friday, 6 November, to agree whether to postpone the rules by one year or three. Big Oil, the Trump administration and a growing group of member states have pressed for a delay, citing supply and legal risks.

The commission had refused for a long time to propose postponement. It changed course in October, proposing a one-year delay. The documents, obtained from the commission’s energy department, detail its attempts to handle the pressure and how those efforts eventually failed. The dispute and the events leading up to the proposal have also been reported previously.

US opposition to the rules has been public: Trump administration officials and allied industry groups have repeatedly attacked the EU regulation. The climate stakes are significant, as methane traps around 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. The gas leaks into the atmosphere from wells, pipelines and gas terminals.