[Bonn, Germany — June 16, 2025] At a press conference today at the UNFCCC’s Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany, NGOs, scientists, and climate advocates launched a global campaign to “Pull the Methane Emergency Brake.” It calls for deep, rapid, mandatory cuts in methane emissions as the fastest, most impactful way to lower near-term global temperature rise. The campaign is organised by the NGOs Leave it in the Ground Initiative(LINGO), Methane Action, and the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD).

Methane has caused nearly a third to half of modern warming, and since the Paris Agreement, new methane emissions have driven as much or more warming than new carbon dioxide emissions. Cutting methane emissions is a critical pathway to limiting near-term global temperature rise. Studies show that cutting methane emissions could result in four times the reduction in global temperature rise compared to cutting carbon dioxide only, and could kick in much faster, lowering global warming by as much as 0.3 to 0.5 °C in the next few decades.

But with methane rising and climate tipping points looming faster than previously thought possible, campaign organisers say we are out of time to rely on voluntary frameworks like the Global Methane Pledge where signatories promised to cut methane 30% by 2030, or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris agreement. We need to establish mandatory methane mitigation measures now, such as a binding agreement long called for by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, President of the UN Climate Vulnerable Forum and V20 Finance Ministers (CVF-V20).

To that end, the Methane Emergency Brake campaign will work with climate and grassroots groups to take widespread, urgent action on methane, calling on governments at all levels and international organisations to:

Mandate and enforce mandatory – not voluntary – methane emissions reductions that meet or exceed a 45% reduction in anthropogenic methane emissions this decade, in line with the Paris Agreement, across all methane-emitting sectors, including fossil fuels, agriculture, and waste.
Cut methane emissions from fossil fuel operations by at least 75% by 2030, consistent with the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 scenario. These reductions can be achieved using existing technologies and regulatory frameworks.
Tell the truth about methane emissions and impacts. Methane emissions are substantially underreported, but new satellite systems are revealing methane emissions, “methane bombs,” and methane super-emitters in real time. To accurately reflect the urgency of methane mitigation, the IPCC should require and assimilate current, accurate emissions data, and its accounting should use a methane global warming potential of 20 years (GWP20) alongside the conventional metric of 100 years (GWP100), which understates methane’s near-term impacts.

Presenters at today’s Methane Emergency Brake launch press conference in Bonn included Joshua Pangelanin, Micronesia’s Expert Advisor on Climate and negotiator at the Bonn intersessionals; Stephan Singer, Senior Global Specialist on Climate Science and Energy, Climate Action Network International; Shefali Sharma, Global Project Lead, Greenpeace Deutschland; and Paul Boëffard, Program Coordinator, Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO).

Recorded video statements were also sent in by Rob Jackson, Stanford University professor and Chair of the Global Carbon Project; Annika Kruse, a leader with Fridays for Future Deutschland; and Durwood Zaelke, Founder and President, Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

You can watch the video of the press conference, as well as the recorded statement videos, here: https://methaneemergencybrake.org/launch-event/

“If we don’t pull the Methane Emergency Brake now, we’ll be guilty of planetary malpractice, as we watch our warming world set off tipping point after irreversible tipping point with impacts society won’t be able to manage,” said Durwood Zaelke, Founder and President, Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

“We’re out of time to depend on voluntary pledges to cut methane, or regulations that new administrations could undo,” said Daphne Wysham, CEO of Methane Action. “The U.S. reversing its methane regulations is a classic illustration of this. We need mandatory methane mitigation measures at all levels of government, including a binding agreement that creates accountability for all nations, similar to the EU’s carbon border adjustment for methane.”

“There’s only one way to pull the Methane Emergency Brake: together,” said Kjell Kühne, founder and director of the Leave it in the Ground Initiative (LINGO), “We hope that many will join us in doing what is needed to stop the extreme heat brought upon us by methane from fracking, industrial agriculture, etc. Pulling the brake is a question of self-defence against extreme temperatures.”

For more information on the Methane Emergency Brake campaign and the science behind it, and to sign up for updates and alerts, go to www.MethaneEmergencyBrake.org.

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