Indonesia Joined 100 Countries to Slash Gas Methane by 30% in 2030

More than 100 countries, including Indonesia, have joined an effort led by the United States and European Union to slash emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane by 30 percent by 2030 from the 2020 level, an initiative aimed at tackling one of the main causes of climate change. The Global Methane Pledge, launched at the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Tuesday after being announced in September, now covers countries representing nearly half of global methane emissions and 70 percent of global GDP, US President Joe Biden said.

"Together, we're committing to collectively reduce our methane by 30 percent by 2030. And I think we can probably go beyond that," Biden said at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, as quoted by Reuters. "It's going to boost our economies, saving companies money, reducing methane leaks, capturing methane to turn it into new revenue streams, as well as creating good-paying union jobs for our workers."

Among the new signatories was Brazil - one of the world's biggest emitters of methane. The pledge now includes six of the world's 10 biggest methane emitters: the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Mexico. China, Russia, India, and Iran, also top-10 methane emitters, have not signed up. Those countries were all included on a list identified as targets to join the pledge.