China releases methane control plan
China has unveiled a broad plan to control its methane emissions, after Beijing and Washington held climate talks this weekend in California, raising new hopes for headway at the Cop28 summit in Dubai.  China is one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases and biggest producer of methane, mainly from its coal mining industry.  It has promised action on methane but not signed a global pledge backed by the United States and European Union on slashing the gas, which has a shorter lifespan in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide but is far more potent.  The International Energy Agency (IEA) said last month that "immediate reductions" in methane emissions were needed to limit climate warming.  In a broad plan released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment late on Tuesday, Beijing said it would aim to strengthen "emission monitoring, accounting, reporting and verification systems" and offered broad steps to improve "methane emission control in the energy sector".  The plan includes steps to capture and reuse methane emissions, promising to recycle up to six billion cubic meters of the gas released by coal mines by 2025. China's energy sector emitted 38.6 billion cubic metres of methane in 2022, with its total emissions accounting for 15.6 percent of the global share, according to the IEA's Global Methane Tracker.  Beijing also pledged to reduce its use of gas flaring – a key source of methane emissions – in energy extraction, as well as taking steps to reduce leaks.  It also offered steps to repurpose more than 80 percent of livestock waste, another major source of methane emission, by 2025. (AFP)