Official publication of the EU Regulation on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector

On 15 July 2024, the Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/942 ("Methane Regulation") was published in the Official Journal of the EU. 

The Methane Regulation establishes a new EU legal framework for the measurement, reporting, and verification of methane emissions in the energy sector. It introduces mitigation measures to prevent such emissions, including detecting and repairing methane leaks and limiting venting and flaring. The Regulation also sets out global monitoring tools to ensure transparency on methane emissions from imports of oil, gas and coal into the EU. 

As the majority of methane emissions linked to fossil energy consumed within the EU occur outside the EU, this Regulation is the world's first to regulate methane emissions from imports. Under the Regulation, the Commission will establish and maintain a “methane transparency platform” setting out profiles of Member States, producers and importers that place crude oil, natural gas or coal on the EU market. The same applies to non-EU countries and producers who export crude oil, natural gas and coal to the EU. This will allow importers to make informed choices on their energy purchases.

The Commission will also establish a global methane monitoring tool and set up a methane transparency database that regularly publishes the results of aerial monitoring of large emitters of methane from energy sources, with updates to be provided every month. The data will be sourced by using satellite data of high methane-emitting sources within or outside the EU. EU Member States will be required to collect data and information on methane emissions reported by EU operators and importers and to make it available to the Commission and to the public.

From 2025 onwards, importers of crude oil, natural gas and coal into the EU will have to report on annual methane emissions data, including from countries and companies exporting to the EU. Information will have to include whether and how they are measuring, reporting and reducing methane emissions.

As of January 2027, the Regulation further requires that new import contracts for oil, gas and coal can be only concluded if the same monitoring, reporting and verification obligations are applied by exporters as for EU producers. This means that for all contracts concluded with exporters to the EU after the entry into force of the Regulation,  EU importers will have to:

• as of January 2027 - demonstrate  that the concerned producers are subject to measuring, monitoring, reporting and verifying methane emissions in conformity with the requirements of the EU Regulation;
• from 2028 - report on the methane intensity of the production of oil, gas and coal that they are placing on the EU market, in line with a methodology to be set out by the Commission in secondary legislation (to ensure a level playing field, EU producers will also be subject to this obligation); and 
• from 2030 - demonstrate that the methane intensity of the production of oil, gas and coal imported into EU market is below certain maximum values, to be set by the Commission at a later stage in secondary legislation.

The Regulation does not impose an import ban on oil, gas or coal to the EU market which fail to meet the requirements of the Regulation, to preserve security of supply. Instead, a system of penalties, for example, periodic penalty payments or fines will be put in place and enforced by the Member States for infringements of the Regulation. Penalties will have to be set by the national authorities in the Member States at levels that are effective, proportionate and dissuasive. 

The Commission published its proposal for this Regulation on 15 December 2021 as part of the second suite of the “Fit for 55” package (for more details, see our previous blog post). The European Parliament and the Council reached political agreement on this proposal on 22 November 2023 (see our previous blog post). 

The Regulation will come into force on 4 August 2024. It is directly applicable in all Member States. 

For more information on the Regulation, see European Commission Q&A.