Turning Pledges into Progress
An accountability framework for reducing emissions from the oil and gas industry
About this report
At the COP28, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) announced a new initiative to support and report progress made by leading oil and gas companies around the world in achieving the emissions reduction targets recently set out in the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC). EDF acknowledges the important contributions it has received from Bloomberg Philanthropies, which has supported EDF’s involvement in the above referenced initiative.
Greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas operations remain unacceptably high. For the industry to deliver the methane and flaring reduction targets set out in the OGDC – and for policymakers, investors and civil society to have confidence those targets will be met – companies must back up their targets with concrete and transparent actions.
The IEA-IMEO-EDF initiative aims to support real emissions reductions from the oil and gas industry, examine how the OGDC goals relate to broader efforts to limit climate change, and improve understanding of companies’ progress towards the goals they have set. It will provide estimates and data to assess progress and examine industry efforts to monitor emissions, deliver methane emissions cuts and achieve broader energy transition goals. This will draw on existing measurement-based transparency initiatives as well as new measurement systems, including the MethaneSAT and Carbon Mapper Tanager satellites.
As the first product of the joint initiative, this report expands the framework for accountability. It provides an overview of why it is critical that the oil and gas industry urgently tackles methane emissions and flaring globally and how the OGDC can advance reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The framework reflects commitments made by the industry and specifies a set of detailed metrics around planning, execution and disclosure. The initiative plans to publish its first full assessment in 2025.