European Commission weighs one-year delay to methane rules for energy imports

The European Commission is considering a one-year delay to parts of its landmark methane regulation, which would require oil, gas and coal companies selling into the European Union to monitor, report and verify their methane emissions starting Jan. 1.

Dan Jørgensen, the European commissioner for energy and housing, proposed the pause at a meeting of the bloc's energy ministers in Dublin on Tuesday, Phil McKenna reported Sept. 30 in Inside Climate News. Jørgensen said the European Union has spent an extra 100 billion euros on energy this year as costs rose with the Iran war, and called any pause "temporary and targeted." French President Emmanuel Macron had urged a postponement in a Sept. 18 letter.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, backed the pause, citing energy security risks. The United States, Europe's largest supplier of liquefied natural gas, reportedly warned it could sell elsewhere if the rules were not eased.

Climate experts and investors pushed back. Maas Goote, the bloc's former lead climate negotiator, said there is no evidence the rules would raise prices or cut supply. "We're not just talking about climate here. We're also talking about an enormous waste of energy," Goote said. Gas lost worldwide each year to flaring and leaks equals twice the volume shipped through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025.

Michael Button of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change warned that another delay would create uncertainty and put companies that had already invested in compliance at a disadvantage.

This brief is based on reporting by Phil McKenna, published Sept. 30, 2026, in Inside Climate News. Read the original: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30092026/european-commission-plans-to-delay-methane-rules/