Mind the gap: secure UK methane capture before April 2027

This commentary was first published on Infinis.com following the release of the UK Government’s Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan 2025 and UK Methane Action Plan 2025. It reflects Infinis’ perspective on the role of methane reduction and landfill gas in supporting the UK’s near-term climate targets. 

The government’s new Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan and UK Methane Action Plan published this week, both make one thing clear: methane abatement is the most effective and proven tool we have to prevent planetary warming, and its effective delivery will support a thriving green economy.   

That recognition is long overdue. Methane is responsible for about a third of today’s global warming¹, and cutting it offers the fastest route to slowing temperature rise in the next decade. The UK has already led the way, reducing methane emissions by more than 60% since 1990², one of the steepest declines in the OECD. 

A UK success story built on landfill gas 

Much of that progress has come from the landfill gas sector, which captures methane from decomposing waste and turns it into renewable, baseload electricity. Supported by the Renewables Obligation (RO), the UK turned a waste challenge into one of its most effective climate policies. 

At Infinis, we’re proud to have played a major role in that success. Across our network, we prevent more than five million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions every year (equivalent to the annual emissions of a city the size of Bristol³) while delivering reliable, home-grown renewable power to the grid. 

Protecting success  

The new government plans rightly identify the waste sector as one of the largest sources of remaining methane emissions and set ambitions to improve landfill gas capture rates to 85% by 2030⁴. But they also confirm that the RO will close in 2027, with no successor yet in place. 

We now need continuity, not a policy gap. The National Methane Action Plan commits the government to assess “implementation of a long-term methane capture scheme with suitable transitional arrangements.” With April 2027 fast approaching, industry needs clear policy to invest, retain skills, and protect capabilities that underpin this success. 

We’re asking government not to let this issue flounder and to work quickly to confirm the short-term transitional arrangements. This will allow industry to invest and ensure the skills and plant required to deliver success are retained and maintained. This will keep the UK on course for its Carbon Budgets and the Global Methane Pledge beyond April 2027. 

A bridge to net zero 

Methane abatement is not a side issue. It’s a bridge that protects near-term climate progress while we build the deeper decarbonisation systems of the future. 

The government’s new plans send the right signal, but now delivery must match ambition. The UK has the infrastructure, skills and experience to continue leading on methane reduction. What’s needed next is the policy certainty to keep it going. 

Sources 

1. UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Climate and Clean Air Coalition, Global Methane Assessment (2021): methane responsible for roughly 30% of observed global warming. 
2. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), UK Methane Action Plan (October 2025): UK methane emissions reduced by 62% since 1990. 
3. DESNZ and Office for National Statistics (ONS), UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2023 and UK Emissions Statistics (2024): per-capita emissions ≈ 6.4 tCO2e; ONS, Population Estimates for UK Cities (2024): Bristol ≈ 0.75m residents. 
4. DESNZ, UK Methane Action Plan (2025): target to increase landfill gas capture to 85% by 2030⁴.