ANTALYA, Türkiye, Nov. 13, 2026 /CNW/ -- Canada is advancing practical climate solutions that reduce emissions while supporting a stronger, more competitive economy. Reducing methane is among the most effective ways to slow global warming in the near term. Over its first 20 years in the atmosphere, methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide and is responsible for about 30% of the rise in global temperatures to date. At the 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), Canada is working with international partners to share Canadian expertise, lower global methane emissions, and create opportunities for Canadian businesses and workers on the path to net zero.

Today at COP31, the Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature, launched the Accelerator for Verified Opportunities on Innovation for Decarbonization (AVOID)-Methane. This new Canada-led global initiative will help Canadian companies bring their methane-reduction technologies and services to markets around the world, supporting Canadian innovation and jobs while cutting one of the most potent greenhouse gases.

The initiative will draw on the technical expertise, workforce capacity, and commercial capabilities of Canadian businesses to support methane mitigation at scale. It will enable business-to-business engagement, support knowledge exchange, and help advance commercial partnerships that accelerate methane reductions globally. Canada will explore opportunities to begin business-to-business matching in 2027, connecting Canadian methane technology and service providers with prospective buyers and partners abroad. The initiative will later expand to include solution providers from other countries.

This initiative marks another step in Canada's efforts to strengthen its international leadership on methane. Building on this leadership, Minister Dabrusin also announced Canada's role as Chair of the Global Methane Initiative, an international partnership that brings together public- and private-sector partners to reduce methane emissions. As Chair, Canada will work to strengthen the Global Methane Initiative's role in sharing expertise, identifying opportunities to reduce emissions, and fostering new partnerships. Canada also co-convenes the Global Methane Pledge with the European Union, a partnership of countries aiming to reduce global methane emissions by 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

This work reflects Canada's new action agenda toward building a net-zero economy, as set out in Budget 2026. That agenda is built around four building blocks: building more clean electricity supply, switching to electric technologies, transforming our energy productivity, and innovating the solutions of tomorrow. Methane shows the innovate building block at work. When Canada began regulating methane from oil and gas, Canadian firms stepped up to develop technology that finds and fixes leaks and many now export it. AVOID-Methane will help them reach even more customers, so that solutions proven in Canada can cut emissions around the world.

Quotes

"Cutting methane is one of the fastest ways to slow global warming, and Canada has shown it can be done while strengthening our economy and energy security. Canadian companies are building world-class technology to find and fix methane leaks. AVOID-Methane will help them reach new customers around the world, creating more opportunities for Canadian innovators and good jobs here at home."

– The Honourable Julie Dabrusin, Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature

Quick facts

• Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere. Global methane emissions are responsible for about 30% of the rise in temperature to date and half a million premature deaths globally each year through air pollution.
• The Global Methane Initiative is an international partnership of 46 governments and more than 700 non-governmental members dedicated to reducing methane emissions and advancing the recovery and use of methane as a valuable energy source.
• Canada's Enhanced Methane Regulations are projected to reduce oil-and-gas methane emissions to 72% below 2012 levels by 2030.
• In 2024, Canada's methane emissions fell to their lowest levels since tracking began in 1990, marking a 31% reduction since 2005 and a 27% reduction since 2012. This reduction was driven largely by reductions in the oil and gas sector, which saw methane emissions fall to 44% below the 2012 level in 2024 in response to federal and provincial regulations.
• Canada co-convenes the Global Methane Pledge with the European Union, a collective global target of 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030 (as compared to 2020). Achieving this target would prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and asthma-related emergency room visits each year and avoid millions of tonnes of food crop losses a year by 2030.
• The Global Methane Status Report, released at COP30, showed that methane emissions growth has slowed since the launch of the Global Methane Pledge in 2021, underscoring the collective progress enabled by international cooperation, but that more needs to be done to meet the Global Methane Pledge target.
• During London Climate Action Week in June 2026, the United Nations Secretary-General released a Call to Action on Methane, calling for accelerated reductions, particularly in the fossil fuel sector. Canada is working with partners, including through its leadership of the Global Methane Pledge, to support implementation in support of the Call to Action.

Associated links

• Reducing Methane Emissions

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SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada