Flavia Sollazzo, Senior Director, EU Energy Transition, Environmental Defense Fund Europe, comments on the COP28 agreed global stocktake text:
"This could be a watershed moment for global energy transition. The agreement finally brings to light the urgency of reducing fossil fuels but still misses enforceable mandates for swift reduction.
"This decade is critical for our climate, and all countries must see this as a call for rapid and significant action. The energy industry must intensify its efforts and implement concrete measures to fulfil voluntary pledges. This also means embracing practices that align with the EU's incoming methane standards to reduce short-term climate impacts.
"Governments, industry and civil society must now join forces to boost both transparency and accountability for emissions, in particular for the climate killer methane. Environmental Defense Fund, together with expert organisations, works at the forefront of science to provide public, accurate and reliable methane emissions data. Through MethaneSAT, we will boost accountability, leaving no place for emitters to hide and improving our chance to limit global temperature rise - before the door finally slams shut."
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For additional information: https://www.cutmethaneeu.org/
If/when filing copy on this story, please reference in full: "Environmental Defense Fund Europe.”
Media contacts: Flavia Sollazzo fsollazzo@edf.org / Anne Visintin anne.visintin@fourtold.eu
Available for interviews and further comment: Flavia Sollazzo, Senior Director, EU Energy Transition, Environmental Defense Fund Europe /Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Senior Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund Europe
Notes to editors
The Methane Menace
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas identified as the second-largest contributor to global warming, with a warming potential over 80 times greater than that of carbon dioxide during the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. Atmospheric concentration of methane is increasing faster now than at any time since the 1980s. Methane emissions from human activity are responsible for at least 25% of today's warming. The oil and gas sector stands out as a significant contributor, with methane emissions about 70% higher than official data shows and expected to increase.
About The Environmental Defense Fund
One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org and edfeurope.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 3 million members and activists and offices in the United States, the European Union, China, India, Mexico, and Indonesia, scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 28 countries and across the E.U. to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseEuro