Welcoming the CCC’s 2025 Progress Report: How can we continue to reduce methane emissions?

Today, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has published its 2025 Progress Report to Parliament.

It is important to celebrate our continued progress in reducing emissions. For example, UK methane emissions have fallen dramatically since 1990, by approximately 62% (~135 MtCO2e to around 52 MtCO2e in 2020). This is one of the largest reductions among OECD nations.

I am proud to recognise the significant contribution that Infinis and companies like it have made to this achievement, through the capture of the legacy methane emissions from landfill operations.

Methane: A potent threat or a powerful solution?

However, the Committee are clear that more action will be required. The Seventh Carbon Budget highlights the potency of methane. Although it remains in the atmosphere for a much shorter time than carbon dioxide, methane’s short-term warming potential is more than 80 times greater than CO2.

Between 2010 and 2019, methane was responsible for approximately one-third of global temperature rise.

In 2022, the UK’s waste sector was responsible for approximately 6% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions and 30% of the UK’s total methane emissions. Landfill methane is by far the largest component of these emissions.

Reducing methane emissions offers one of the most effective strategies for slowing global warming in the near term. The CCC’s Balanced Pathway, which underpins the UK’s Sixth and upcoming Seventh Carbon Budgets, projects a 67% reduction in waste emissions by 2040, with landfill methane capture reaching 80% by 2050.

The UK was also a chief signatory to Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.

These targets are ambitious but achievable - provided the right policy frameworks are in place.

Delivering Net Zero and the Global Methane Pledge:

To realise the outcomes within the CCC’s balanced pathway, we believe that the Government should enact two policies:

Develop a UK Methane Action Plan: We call on the Government to provide a detailed roadmap for achieving the methane reduction commitments made under international agreements. This should integrate landfill management into broader waste and emissions strategies.
Continue the incentivisation of methane capture: Historically, this support has been delivered through certificates (ROCs) issued under the Renewable Obligation (RO), recognising the benefit of utilising captured landfill gas to generate reliable 24/7 renewable electricity. The RO is set to end in 2027. The government has not yet outlined how it will incentivise methane capture after this point.

If the RO scheme ends without a replacement, the Green Alliance has found that there will be serious impact on the climate, energy security, and communities close to landfills:

The methane capture rate could drop by more than 17% - this would release an additional 88,000 tonnes of methane per year

Energy production will decrease by around 1% (3TWh; enough to power 1.1 million homes or every electric vehicle currently on the road)

Operators may resort to flaring gas instead of using it productively

Infinis generates flexible, low-carbon power from captured methane, solar and battery storage in the UK. We provide always-on electricity from sources others overlook, supporting grid stability and driving the on-shore energy transition.

For more information on how Infinis is supporting methane reduction and the delivery of a clean electricity system by 2030, please contact Communications@infinis.com