Japan Boosts Effort to Curb Methane Leaks From LNG Supply Chains
(Bloomberg) -- Japan is strengthening efforts to curtail methane emissions from liquefied natural gas as it sticks with a fossil fuel that’s accelerating climate change.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it will collaborate with the United Nations’ Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 program and MiQ, a methane certification non-profit, to verify emissions from LNG imports into Japan.
The announcement was made after a three-day energy summit in Tokyo where government officials urged energy importers to secure gas past 2050 — the deadline Japan has set for net zero emissions. The country is the world’s No. 2 LNG importer, and several of its largest buyers are considering 20-year supply deals with projects starting after 2030, people familiar with the talks said.
The partnership announced Friday is an expansion of Japan’s Coalition for LNG Emission Abatement Toward Net Zero initiative. The government is also looking at technologies such as carbon capture and storage — unproven at scale — to mitigate emissions from burning LNG and meet its midcentury climate targets.
Global LNG supply chains spew roughly 350 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year — more than the annual emissions of Italy, the International Energy Agency said in a report Friday. For roughly $100 billion, that climate footprint could be cut by 60%, according to the report.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
