Mitigating Agricultural Methane: Relevance, Potential and Policy Options

Methane emissions are becoming one of the central issues in climate policy debates. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a relatively short atmospheric lifetime. Reducing methane emissions not only contributes to climate neutrality but can also slow warming in the coming decades. For this reason, more than 100 countries launched the Global Methane Pledge in 2021, committing to reducing global methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. Major dairy producers and food companies have likewise announced ambitious methane reduction targets.

Agriculture is the largest source of methane emissions in the European Union (EU), primarily from livestock production. While emissions from the sector declined during the 1990s and early 2000s, progress has stalled over the past decade. Currently, there is a lively discussion on how the contribution of agricultural methane to warming should be understood and reflected in climate and agricultural policies.

With this conference, we aim to address three key elements of the debate on agricultural methane:

• The relevance of biogenic methane for global warming.  
• The mitigation potential of technologies and practices as part of a methane reduction strategy. 
• The policy frameworks needed to incentivise on-farm methane mitigation in the EU livestock sector and create economically viable pathways for farmers. 

You are cordially invited to join our European conference, which will provide a forum for scientists, policymakers, representatives from agricultural and food value chains and civil society organisations. Our goal is to facilitate a solution-oriented dialogue on the role of agricultural methane in climate change, the practical potential to enhance the climate-efficiency of animal agriculture through mitigation technologies and practices and policies that create a business case for methane mitigation.

Language
The conference will be simultaneously translated from English into German. 

Programme
The programme of the event will soon be made available in the download area below. 

Programme highlights

1. Keynote: Why methane matters? (by Andy Reisinger, New Zealand) 

2. Scientific panel: The role of agricultural methane in climate change 

3. On-farm experiences: The potential of on-farm mitigation measures (preliminary results from a new study by Agora Agriculture and others) 

4. Economic opportunities: Creating business cases for reducing methane on farms (farmers’ and business perspectives) 

5. Policy framework: Elements of an enabling policy mix (key stakeholders and policymaker panel) 

Speakers include:

• Chris Adamo, Head of Global Sustainability Impact & B Corp at Danone
• Myles Allen, Professor of Geosystem Science, University of Oxford
• Pierre-Marie Aubert, Director Agriculture and Food Policies at IDDRI
• Vera Eory, Reader in Sustainable Agriculture, Scotland’s Rural College | Member of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change
• Christian Holzleitner, Head of Unit Land Economy and Carbon Removals, European Commission – DG CLIMA
• Thordis Moeller, Sustainability Director Continental Europe at OSI Europe
• Niels Peter Nørring, Director of Climate and EU Policy at the Danish Agriculture and Food Council
• Andy Reisinger, Commissioner at the New Zealand Climate Change Commission
• Nina Wenzl, Corporate Affairs Director Central Europe at Mars
   

Contact
Content: nikolai.pushkarev(at)agora-agrar.de
Organisation: grace.williams(at)agora-thinktanks.org