Recognizing that methane is a powerful climate forcer with a global warming potential at least 80 times greater than CO2 over 20 years;
Noting that atmospheric methane concentrations are double preindustrial levels and at 1.9 parts per million are now higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years and rising faster than other climate pollutants;
Acknowledging that emissions from natural sources such as wetlands currently comprise at least 40% of all methane emissions, and that as global temperatures rise methane emissions from wetlands are becoming more intense.
We, the undersigned, agree to undertake the following steps to enable scaled reduction of methane emissions and scaled removal of atmospheric methane, in order to restore atmospheric concentrations of methane to preindustrial levels.
To that end, we declare that individually and collectively we will:
1) Ensure that all our jurisdictions are aggressively reducing or mitigating emissions of methane at their sources while conserving and restoring the ecological functions of wetlands and other ecosystems;
2) Fund and initiate programs to monitor atmospheric methane;
3) Fund and initiate programs to develop technologies that reduce atmospheric concentrations of methane safely and effectively, facilitated by working groups addressing methane removal methods that include, but are not limited to, enhanced atmospheric methane oxidation via photocatalysis, zeolite and other adsorption technologies, atmospheric radicals, and methanotrophic conversion; and
4) Frame and implement global governance for the use of such methods to return atmospheric methane to preindustrial levels.
In furtherance of these objectives, we pledge to adopt rules and programs within our jurisdictions by August 31, 2022 and international rules and programs by November 30, 2022:
a) Requiring deployment of the best available technologies to so mitigate or avoid methane emissions and internalizing the full costs of the emissions and removal of methane;
b) Developing, assessing, and deploying methods of monitoring atmospheric methane;
c) Developing, assessing, deploying, and governing methods of removing and destroying methane, both near major emissions sources and in the atmosphere;
d) Planning and implementing deployment of all available resources for methane emissions reduction and methane removal on an emergency basis as soon as practicable for each signatory and for all by the earliest feasible date and no later than March 20, 2023.
Within three months of initial signing of this Declaration, and every three months thereafter, signatories and the working groups in which they participate shall report their findings, recommendations, and requirements for funding and assistance to one another and to the relevant Secretariats and Implementing Funds, including but not limited to those of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Environment Program, the United Nations Development Program, and the Global Environment Facility.