Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin, UN Climate Change High Level Champion for Egypt and UN Special Envoy on Financing 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, said that reducing methane emissions is the fastest and most effective way to reduce global warming rates and keep the goal of limiting the earth temperature raise to 1.5 degrees.
Mohieldin stated, during his participation in Global Methane, Climate and Clean Air Forum, that methane emissions have contributed roughly 30% of current warming, causing untold harm to the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable communities around the globe.
He stressed that world should work on achieving the target of methane emissions reduction by 30% before the end of this decade, saying that only 2% of all climate finance goes to methane mitigation, which is just $10 billions per year, while methane abatement required finance is around $110 billion per year should be mobilized across private and public sources.
“We must also rebalance financing across regions. We know Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa, are the second and third largest methane emitting regions respectively, yet attract only 6% of methane abatement finance.” Mohieldin explained.
The climate champion referred to COP26 call for reducing non-carbon emissions including methane by 2030, saying that COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh should be the shifting point from pledges to pragmatic solutions.
Mohieldin said that COP27 will call upon non-state actors to demonstrate concrete methane reduction actions and finance across energy, agriculture, and waste, the three sectors that account for almost 95% of methane emissions.
