Kerry targets India on methane emissions

US climate envoy John Kerry urged Pacific island states on Thursday (10) to join global efforts to cut methane emissions in hopes it would sway major emitters China and India to follow suit.

Speaking at the UN‘s COP27 summit in Egypt, Kerry said 20 countries have yet to count methane as part of their pledges to cut emissions in global efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

‘In those 20 states are China and India, and that‘s a massive amount of methane,' he said at the event on protecting the oceans.

While he acknowledged that island nations account for a tiny proportion of methane emissions, he said they could make a ‘huge difference' by joining the effort.

‘If the rest of the world joins in and makes it clear this is what we have to do, that will, I hope, encourage those other states ... to join in the counting of methane' in their emissions plans, Kerry said.

Methane is the second biggest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide.

It is generated by the production, transport and use of fossil fuels, but also from the decay of organic matter in wetlands and elsewhere, and as a byproduct of ruminant digestion in agriculture.