As a majority of the world’s nations gather in Antalya, Türkiye, for COP31, durable progress hangs in the balance. All eyes are on methane — a powerful climate pollutant that is over 80 times more powerful at heating Earth as CO₂. The good news is that there are tools available to accelerate action. But knowing where to target that action is key. The sectors with ready action are waste and oil and gas. RMI supplies public emissions data to Climate TRACE for these sectors, which together account for an estimated one-third of all human-made methane.

Waste

The waste sector is rightly taking center stage at COP31, with the Presidency making zero waste and methane reduction a priority of its Action Agenda and aiming to halve the projected increase in global waste generation by 2035. The attention that methane plumes from Silivri landfill, on the outskirts of Istanbul, have gained shines light on the significant methane emissions from this sector, but raises the question: “What should be done with waste already in place?”

WasteMAP analyzes data posted on Climate TRACE to provide comprehensive global waste-sector emissions data and a robust Decision Support Tool to help city leaders, site operators, and investors prioritize interventions — such as gas collection and utilization and organic waste diversion — and track results. The methane emitted by landfills is also an energy source, so capturing and utilizing the gas from landfills paired with advanced monitoring both reduces greenhouse gas emissions and provides an alternative to fossil-based energy generation.

Oil and gas

The oil and gas sector offers the unique opportunity to slash methane because methane is the main component in natural gas, which is produced along with oil. As such, methane is both a power pollutant and a valuable commodity. Yet the world squanders too much gas, venting and flaring it into the atmosphere instead of keeping it in the pipe. In addition to posting methane and other greenhouse gas emissions on Climate TRACE, RMI’s Oil Climate Index plus Gas (OCI+) compares methane and GHG intensities of oil and gas assets worldwide. This public tool also analyzes and compares global oil and gas assets’ super emissions, provides gas loss rates, calculates lost gas value, compares benchmark crudes, and provides risk maps. OCI+ offers countless use cases for countries, operators, banks, insurers, policymakers, and civil society actors.

Turning commitments into action

Cutting methane emissions under the Global Methane Pledge — which was signed by 160 parties at COP26 — is critical to bolstering energy, economic, and environmental security. COP31 offers an opportunity to turn methane commitments into action. Waste and oil and gas offer the clearest ways forward, and the data and tools to target them are already public. By using Climate TRACE data, WasteMAP, and OCI+ to pinpoint the highest-impact sites, make mitigation plans, and track results, countries, cities, and companies can move from pledges to measurable reductions. With the tools in hand, the task in Antalya is to put them to work.

Thank you to Jake Stanger and Rose Wang for analyzing Climate TRACE oil and gas methane emissions data for ranking countries