Reducing methane emissions in Mexico’s oil and gas sector

As announced in November 2016, Canada will work with Mexico over the next four years on a mitigation program to reduce methane emissions in Mexico's oil and gas sector. The $7-million investment will reduce flaring, venting, and fugitive methane emissions from oil and gas operations through the transfer of technical expertise, clean technologies, and innovation. Clearstone Engineering Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, will implement the program, on the ground.‎

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a short-lived climate pollutant with a global warming potential two times greater than carbon dioxide. Globally, minimizing the emissions from methane production has been identified by the International Energy Agency as a key opportunity to keep global temperatures from rising well below two degrees Celsius, a level that the nations of the world agreed to pursue in the Paris Agreement.‎  Cost-effective and economically efficient actions to address methane emissions support a low-carbon economy, and they will reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds, black carbon, and harmful toxic air pollutants, leading to positive health and development benefits.

Canada recognizes that reducing methane emissions is a way to achieve cost-effective greenhouse gas reductions, and it is an important step on the path towards achieving domestic and international climate change goals. As a result, Canada is working in collaboration with partners to scale up methane-emission reductions through the G20 and voluntary efforts such as the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership, the Nationally Determined Contributions Partnership, and the Nationally Determined Contributions Leadership Compact. In addition, Canada has endorsed the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 Initiative.