Discussion Paper: International Cooperation on Methane

The discussion paper may be downloaded by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. A second document with additional information on international initiatives discussed in the paper may also be downloaded.

Methane is responsible for roughly one-third of observed warming since the pre-industrial era, and reduction of methane emissions offers one of the most effective opportunities for near-term mitigation of climate change. In recent years, governments, international organizations, industry coalitions, and civil society have launched a rapidly growing number of initiatives to reduce methane emissions across the energy, agriculture, and waste sectors. Yet the proliferation of these efforts raises a central question: does the expanding ecosystem of international methane cooperation form a coherent system capable of delivering meaningful emissions reductions?

This discussion paper, titled “The Landscape of International Cooperation for Methane Mitigation,” reviews the evolution of international methane initiatives, introducing a functional framework for analyzing their roles in the emerging global methane-emissions-mitigation landscape. Applying this framework to 44 international initiatives highlights both strengths and gaps in the current system. While political attention, scientific capability, and institutional activity around methane have expanded significantly, the landscape remains fragmented, with uneven sectoral coverage and overlapping mandates. The analysis suggests that the key challenge for international methane cooperation is not the absence of initiatives but the need to better coordinate existing institutions and align them around credible, measurement-informed emissions reductions.

The authors of the paper:

Cynthia A. Ozkul-Randles, Ph.D., is an atmospheric scientist and principal of Randles Ozkul Consulting (ROC) LLC, specializing in satellite-based greenhouse gas and short-lived climate forcer (SLCF) monitoring, science-policy translation, and research program leadership. She is a founding member and former Program Manager of UNEP’s Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) — the world’s first global public satellite methane-monitoring platform — where she led multi-stakeholder engagement across governments, energy operators, space agencies, and academic institutions to translate satellite methane detections into mitigation actions. Previously, she directed a methane research portfolio in the oil and gas industry and spent nearly a decade at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where her work focused on SLCF modeling and the development of satellite-based Earth observation datasets. She serves as IPCC Lead Author on two major emissions methodology reports covering SLCFs and greenhouse gases. She contributes to the CCAC Air Quality Management Exchange (AQMx), developing guidance for countries on air quality management. She holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from Princeton University and an S.B. from MIT.

Leni Papa is a lawyer, educator, and consultant who works on policy and legal frameworks involving the intersection of technology, the environment, development, and competition law. She is the President of Policy International, a consultancy that supports governments and public institutions in designing and implementing sound, efficient, and inclusive policy frameworks across areas such as digitalization, competition, education, environmental sustainability, and social equity. She has advised international organizations, including the OECD, the United Nations, and the Asian Development Bank on competition policy and regulatory reform, and recently served as a JFK and Mason Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Leni holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from Freie Universität Berlin, and a Juris Doctor from the University of the Philippines.

Robert Stowe is Executive Director of the Harvard Initiative on Reducing Global Methane Emissions, supported by the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University; Co-Director of the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements; and Executive Director of the two-year “Project on Climate Change and Trade: Reducing Emissions and Advancing Prosperity” at Harvard. Dr. Stowe has participated in fifteen UNFCCC COPs and was a Contributing Author for a chapter on international cooperation in the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report. He has co-organized 28 research workshops and policy roundtables since 2008 (not including COP panels) and co-edited, with Robert Stavins, five volumes of expert briefs based on some of these workshops. Dr. Stowe is a consultant to the Article 6 Support Facility of the Asian Development Bank. He has taught courses on climate-change policy at HKS and co-designs the curricula for executive-education programs at Harvard Kennedy School on climate-change and energy policy. Dr. Stowe holds a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in physics from Harvard College.