50 oil and gas companies pledge to reduce methane emissions

(CNN, KYMA/KECY) - 50 major oil and gas companies have pledged to dramatically cut their methane emissions by the end of the decade.

The announcement was made Saturday at the COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai. Among the companies that announced they will reduce their methane emissions by around 80-to-90% include ExxonMobil and Saudi Arabia's Aramco.

That comes as the Biden administration also announced that it has finalized a rule to slash methane emissions by nearly 80% through 2038. The rule will be implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and it will crack down on methane leaks.

The new policies will end routine flaring of the natural gas that is produced by drilled oil wells. It will also require stringent leak monitoring of oil and gas wells and compressors.

The EPA estimates the new policies will stop about 58 million tons of methane from escaping into the atmosphere during that period.

That is the equivalent of taking more than 300 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.