The emergency brake: Why methane action can bridge the gap to a clean, electrified economy
Maria Mendiluce, CEO, We Mean Business Coalition
To protect people and economies from escalating climate impacts, businesses and policymakers should use every tool available. A rapid, equitable transition away from fossil fuels and toward clean, electrified economies remains essential to ensure the safety and prosperity of current and future generations. Reducing methane from fossil-fuel operations is a particularly immediate opportunity, complementing the longer-term shift to clean electrification. This requires company action, investment and policies to scale proven solutions.
Businesses and economies are counting the cost of a hotter global climate, which is causing more extreme heatwaves, droughts, forest fires and floods. Across Canada and the European Union, more than 11 million acres of land have been affected by wildfires in 2026. In U.S. cities miles from the flames, residents have looked out on smoke-filled skies from behind closed windows, with normal summer activities cancelled due to high air pollution levels. Meanwhile, across Central Europe, drought and record-low river levels have disrupted trade and constrained electricity generation. Most recently, devastating flash floods on the Tibet-Nepal border destroyed homes, roads and critical infrastructure, underscoring the human cost of climate risk and the urgent need for resilient systems and supply chains.
Why action on superpollutants is an ‘emergency brake’
‘Superpollutants’ are avoidable emissions of non-CO2 gases and aerosols including methane, refrigerants, nitrous oxide and black carbon. Among them, methane is particularly potent: the UN called cutting it ‘the single fastest brake we can pull on a warming planet’.
Superpollutants arise across energy, industry, transport and cooling systems. Their sources and solutions differ, but reducing them can slow near-term warming while delivering cleaner air and health benefits.
Speaking at London Climate Action Week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted superpollutants’ significant contribution to the climate crisis: responsible for nearly half of warming to date.
Superpollutants are vast and each requires a dedicated conversation given their distinct sources and regulatory environments. This article explores methane, where there is one of the most actionable opportunities to reduce near-term warming.
Methane alone has a warming impact 86 times stronger than CO2 per unit of mass over a 20-year period. Unlike CO2, however, methane breaks down in the atmosphere within 12 years. This means that action to cut methane and other superpollutants can reduce the rate of warming relatively quickly, a hugely important safety valve. The latest global methane assessment finds that fully deploying proven methane-cutting measures could avoid around 0.2°C of warming by 2050 — a meaningful difference at a time when every fraction of a degree matters.
Shifting from fossil fuel-based energy systems to secure, efficient and healthier clean electricity will determine long-term safety, affordability and prosperity. And whilst this transition accelerates, cutting superpollutants can help lower temperatures over the next two decades, reducing near-term harm from extreme heat, air pollution and other climate impacts.
How methane action and electrification go hand in hand
Production and supply chains of fossil fuels continue to be a major source of methane pollution, responsible for around one-third of human-caused methane emissions globally which is accelerating near-term warming now. Yet around 70% of methane emissions from fossil fuels could be abated with existing technology.
Today’s fossil-fuel energy system wastes almost two-thirds of all primary energy at a cost of more than $4.6 trillion each year. There are immediate steps companies can take to reduce avoidable waste and pollution from existing fossil-fuel infrastructure. Stronger measurement, reporting and verification; regular leak detection and repair programs; gas
capture and recovery; and improved operational controls can cut methane emissions now.
A huge proportion of the potential to reduce methane emissions lies within G20 countries. As governments in Western countries return from summer breaks, they will likely have a renewed mandate for action to build the resilience of the communities and businesses they represent with action to protect business profitability and safeguard community health.
Governments can help turn proven solutions into emissions cuts at scale. The EU Methane Regulation provides a practical model, requiring oil, gas and coal operators to measure, monitor, report and verify methane emissions, find and fix leaks, and restrict venting and flaring. With methane reduction and zero waste among the COP31 Presidency’s priorities, there is a timely opportunity to strengthen international cooperation, mobilize investment and accelerate implementation.
Clean electrification delivers the lasting solution. Electric vehicles, heat pumps and electrified industrial processes can provide the same services as fossil-fuel systems with far greater efficiency and reliability. They expand the use of clean electricity across sectors, unlocking greater value for economies.
Electrification and clean power reduce CO₂ emissions and air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, including black carbon. The benefits extend beyond the climate. Methane contributes to harmful ground-level ozone, while black carbon is a fine particulate pollutant that damages health. Cutting both can improve air quality, reduce health costs and protect communities already exposed to dangerous pollution. As Wellcome sets out, this is not only a climate opportunity, but a public-health and equity opportunity.
Bringing business and policy action on superpollutants together
Addressing superpollutants at scale requires company action, private investment and supportive policy.
Businesses can act now. Oil, gas and coal companies can eliminate avoidable methane leakage, venting and flaring – often at no net cost given the value of the gas recovered. Companies with large transport and logistics footprints can cut combustion pollution as they electrify their fleets.
For companies, credible climate transition plans should address material methane, refrigerants, nitrous oxide and black-carbon emissions across operations and value chains. Established frameworks, including the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, the SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Integrated Guide for Business, can help companies identify and address these emissions and related air-pollution hotspots. And any business can push for stronger methane performance from its suppliers, using procurement and value-chain standards to extend the impact beyond its own operations.
Some of the greatest opportunities to reduce near-term warming sit beyond any one company’s direct control. Proven, cost-effective solutions exist but need additional capital to reach the required scale. Companies can work together to direct investment toward high-impact projects that deliver measurable results. Hosted by We Mean Business Coalition, Beyond Alliance’s Superpollutant Action Initiative is mobilizing $100 million in private capital by 2030 toward projects to reduce superpollutants and unlock action. Companies including Google, Workday, Amazon and Salesforce have already backed the effort.
Policymakers can turn proven solutions from voluntary action into standard practice. For methane, that means robust measurement, reporting and verification requirements; regular leak detection and repair; and an end to routine venting and flaring. Beyond fossil fuels, standards and incentives can accelerate the phase-down of high-impact refrigerants, curb industrial nitrous oxide and support clean transport and power that eliminate black-carbon pollution. Together, these measures can align climate, clean-air and industrial policy with the investment needed to scale action.
Taking place during Climate Week NYC, the Superpollutant Action Summit on 23 September will bring together leaders from business, finance, policy and science to move from recognizing the opportunity to deploying solutions at scale. Beyond will launch a roadmap showing how and where private capital can be deployed to cut warming, improve air quality and deliver measurable results now. Register interest here.
Further reading
- Read our deep dive on how action on superpollutants complements corporate decarbonization.
- Climate action has a speed problem. Read our CEO Maria Mendiluce’s Forbes piece on why superpollutants are among the fastest solutions we still leave on the table.
- Learn more about Beyond Alliance’s work on superpollutants.