The UN climate conference in Sharm El-Sheikh (COP27) took place between November 6-18, which culminated with an agreement to form a “loss and damage” fund to help vulnerable countries facing climate disasters. At COP27, the Biden administration announced a number of new climate policies, including increased financial contributions to global adaptation and resilience efforts, new climate finance and net-zero initiatives, and updated proposed standards for regulating US methane emissions.

As part of President Biden’s methane announcement, EPA released its Supplemental Proposal for standards to reduce methane emissions from new and existing facilities in the oil and natural gas sector. The Supplemental strengthens the 2021 Proposal by proposing more comprehensive requirements to reduce emissions, an innovative leak detection technology-inclusive approach, and a program to quickly identify and repair the largest leak events. EPA projects that by 2030, the Supplemental Proposal would reduce methane emissions by 87 percent relative to 2005 levels while also recovering saleable natural gas. To learn more, read our white paper discussing the Supplemental Proposal here. You can stay updated at our EPA VOC and Methane Standards Regulatory Tracker page. 

BLM released an updated proposal to regulate the waste of natural gas from oil and gas leases on Federal and Indian lands. The proposal would update the current rule which is more than 40 years old. The proposal would reduce wasted gas through new methane leak detection and lower-emissions equipment requirements at oil and gas sites, and it would require royalty fees on avoidably lost gas in certain circumstances. For more background see our BLM Methane Waste Prevention Rule Regulatory Tracker page.

Rules we've recently updated in our Regulatory Tracker

• BLM Methane Waste Prevention Rule
• Bristol Bay and the Pebble Mine
• Clean Car Rules
• Coal Ash Rule
• Cross-State Air Pollution Rule History
• Endangered Species Act Regulations
• EPA VOC and Methane Standards 
• Federal Offshore Wind Deployment
• Federal Onshore and Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing Pause and Review
• Financial Regulation, Climate Change, and Climate-related Risk Disclosure
• Izembek Refuge Road 
• NEPA Environmental Review Requirements 
• Paris Climate Agreement 
• Single-Use Plastics Phase Out on Public Lands
• The Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases (Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide)

• Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool
• Dept. of the Interior (Personnel, Restoring Land & Water Rights, Funding)
• Dept. of Energy (Personnel, Funding)
• Dept. of Justice (New Initiatives, Personnel)
• EPA (All)
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (Disaster Response, Internal Equity Efforts)
• Other Agencies (HHS, FERC, Labor, USDA, Federal Insurance Office)
• White House (CEQ, Office of Science and Technology Policy)