Carbon dioxide gets all the press when it comes to greenhouse gases. But there is a more dangerous yet less infamous global warming contributor that has nevertheless become the focus of attention for one U.S.-based partnership.
The Methane to Markets Partnership was founded 2004 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency based on a portfolio of successful methane reduction programs operated domestically since 1993. Originally founded with 14 partner countries, M2M now includes 31 signatory countries that account for 65 percent of all man-made methane emissions.
From the start, the partnership has solicited private sector involvement, and private sector entities now compose 70 percent of the partnership’s total membership.
In early March, M2M held its second partnership exposition in New Delhi, India, where hundreds of public and private organizations mingled to strike deals, show off successful methane mitigation projects and technologies, and discuss methane-related financial, technical and policy issues.
“In one stop in three days, [participants could] see 100 projects from around the world that are looking for financial support, development, and technology,” M2M Co-Director Ashley King said.
U.S.-based but globally oriented
Methane accounts for about 16 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Although less known than carbon dioxide, it is more than 20 times more powerful in terms of trapping heat in the atmosphere. About 60 percent of methane emissions are man-made and the largest percentage of emissions comes from farm animals, landfills, and oil and gas processing.
M2M seeks to combine industry, non-governmental organizations and national governments to develop methane reduction and reuse projects in member countries. Although the partnership provides some grants, much of M2M’s work is generated through spontaneous partnerships among members through the partnership’s Project Network.
The M2M Steering Committee is based in Washington. But the industrial subcommittees — coal, oil and gas, landfill gas, and agriculture – all include international leaders, and the partnership’s grassroots body, the Project Network, is global.
The Project Network
The core of the partnership and the key structure for methane reduction and reuse project implementation is the Project Network.
The network is a collection of more than 900 M2M-affiliated organizations linked through online communications and in-person events. Joining the network only requires that organizations register online at the M2M Web site, www.methanetomarkets.org.
The network includes organizations and individuals currently conducting or interested in methane development projects. This includes technical experts, technology producers, and companies in the oil, agriculture, landfill, and coal industries seeking to harness the methane emissions inherent to their industries.
Other members include carbon traders, and state and local government entities that own landfills, coal mines, and farms where methane is produced.
After joining the network, organizations are sent invitations to all M2M events and meetings. But there is no required level of participation.
“We don’t require them to do anything,” King said. “But we hope that when we have the expo, or committee meetings, or capacity building workshops, the private sector [gives] input on what’s needed and [shares] their experiences.”
While government partners also join the Project Network and provide the country-level structures and regulations for implementing methane reduction initiatives, projects are usually implemented by private companies, sometimes in cooperation with local government entities and NGOs.
“We knew that in order to get projects on the ground, we needed to have good engagement from the technology providers, from the project developers, from the state and local governments who own the landfills, from the coal mine owners … that are involved in the actual mechanics of putting a project together and implementing it,” King said.
One of the greatest advantages that the Project Network offers members is access to information and potential partners.
Mark Oven, a managing consultant at M2M subcontractor PA Consulting, said the Project Network is a valuable source of information for companies.
“If you were an oil company in southern Texas … and you had a lot of natural gas transmission lines, you might want to become a partner, because M2M is doing a lot of work on how to minimize methane emission from gas transmissions,” Oven said.
The Project Network aims to keep the private sector interested in M2M mainly through providing information and venues for networking including workshops, conferences and business round-tables. The U.S. has invested $40 million in M2M since 2004, but the partnership is focused on connecting private sector network members to strike up profitable partnerships on their own.
Some opportunity for direct funding
EPA issues a limited amount of funding for projects in methane reduction and reuse to support the partnership. These requests for proposals are often open to a wide range of organizations, including private and nonprofit entities, universities, local governments and hospitals.
Funding is available for projects that include technology transfer and deployment, technical reports, feasibility and pre-feasibility studies, databases of methane emissions or potential sites for projects, information clearinghouses, training and capacity building, study tours, conferences, project expositions, workshops, improved methane emissions estimates, and countrywide methane reduction programs.
One example of an EPA-funded methane reduction project involves PA Consulting’s work in Mexico in partnership with state-run petroleum giant Pemex. Part of its job for this project is to train Pemex staff to measure methane emissions. This is the first step toward implementing methane capture technologies.
The company works on a subcontract with an M2M prime contractor. The M2M partnership offers an abundance of subcontracting opportunities because there are only a handful of prime contractors with long-term EPA umbrella contracts for non-carbon dioxide climate change activities, including M2M.
M2M-related contracts are issued and administered by EPA’s Climate Change Division. Much of the funding is aimed at laying the groundwork for the development of full-scale projects in partner countries.
But M2M’s contracting needs are extensive and go beyond research and implementation of methane reduction technology. Since the core function of M2M’s Project Network is providing information and creating symbiotic relationships among member organizations, there is great need for communication and event planning.
The Eastern Research Group has worked with M2M on meeting preparation, including the launch of the initial M2M ministerial meeting in 2004. It also helps maintain the M2M Web site.
“We develop all the fact sheets and materials about the partnership,” saidi Lauren Lariviere, ERG vice president for conference services.
Lariviere said the company has four project mangers dedicated to various M2M contracts.
Local partners
In addition to the core network of international partners, M2M projects include local partners in the 31 M2M member countries.
For PA Consulting’s M2M project with Pemex, local consultants are essential. Oven said that he has hired several Mexican consultants with expertise in the country’s oil and gas sector.
“Clearly, the only way to get things done in these countries is with good local folks,” Oven said. “Anytime we bring in a team that does any kind of measurement or any kind of training, I make sure have at least one or two local folks that participate in that to help represent it, help arrange it, and learn about the activities and technologies in the process.”
In the case of PA Consulting, its local partners in Mexico are mostly individual energy experts, rather than organizations. Oven also said for this project, he does not work with NGOs.
“There are a number of nonprofits in the Project Network because they like to monitor the type of progress that the project is making,” Oven said. “But … Mexico still has a long way to go in terms of developing the whole NGO and civil society network.”
He added that although M2M emphasizes profit-driven, private sector solutions to methane emission reduction, the work requires traditional development expertise to successfully implement EPA’s portfolio of successful methane reduction projects in a wide variety of cultural contexts.
“I’ve worked for USAID for more than 25 years,” Oven said. “That kind of approach working with local partners, understanding the vernacular…, knowing the local technology, knowing the mindset, working within the local context, I think, is an excellent compliment to what EPA does.”
Oven touted EPA’s database of information, expertise, and successful, data-driven programs. But he added that it takes local connections and cultural savvy to be able to adapt successful programs to foreign environments.
“You can’t just take those programs and dump them in China or Argentina because they fall on deaf ears,” Oven said.
About the author
Andrew Wainer@AndrewWainer
Andrew Wainer is director of policy research for Save the Children. He was formerly a senior immigration policy analyst at Bread for the World Institute, which provides policy analysis on hunger and strategies to end it. He has also worked as a journalist and social researcher in Latin America and the United States. Andrew’s research and journalism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. He holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies from UCLA and is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.
