Invisible, but highly relevant to climate policy: methane is one of the strongest greenhouse gases of all and escapes throughout the entire value creation process of fossil fuels. One ton of the gas warms the climate around 80 times more within 20 years than the same amount of carbon dioxide. Therefore, reducing methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow global warming.
This is exactly where the EU Methane Regulation comes in, which has been in force since August 2024. It is considered the world's first comprehensive law that is intended to record and reduce emissions in the long term.
From January 1, 2027, new documentation requirements should apply to importers of oil, gas and coal from third countries. But now the EU Commission has presented a proposal for a one-year delay. If this is decided, importers would only have to prove from 2028 that the energy sources are being promoted according to standards that are comparable to the EU requirements for measuring and controlling methane emissions.
The European Union is heavily dependent on imports of fossil fuels. According to Eurostat, in 2024, 96.6 percent of available crude oil and petroleum products as well as 85 percent of natural gas came from net imports.
Several EU states, including France, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, had previously called for the requirements to be postponed. France called for a one-year delay, while the Czech Republic and Italy called for three years.
Federal Minister of Economics Katherina Reiche (CDU) joined the calls for a postponement at the EU Energy Council meeting in June and thus opposed the federal government's previous course of implementing the methane regulation in the form decided on in 2024. At the meeting of the EU Energy Council, Reiche said: "We have to secure our energy supply, and we fear that the methane regulation will endanger our energy security."
While the Federal Ministry of Economics emphasizes the effects of the regulation on energy supply, the Federal Environment Ministry is sticking to the existing requirements. Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider (SPD) told Handelsblatt: "I'm tired of pretending that the serious problem of methane emissions doesn't exist."
As a reason for a postponement, several EU states point to the strained energy supply as a result of the Iran war and fears that prices will continue to rise. Proponents of this position argue that stricter requirements for gas and oil imports could deter suppliers and make energy supplies even more expensive. However, it is not proven whether a postponement would actually secure supply.
Shortly before she publicly spoke out in favor of shifting the guidelines, Reiche traveled to the USA for one of the largest industry meetings in the oil and gas industry. At the conference, Reiche said she was taking part in the event for the eighth time.
Research by FragDenStaat shows that, according to preparatory documents, more than a dozen discussions were planned within two and a half days with representatives of energy companies, infrastructure investors and the US government, including with BP and ExxonMobil about additional LNG deliveries and the implementation of the EU methane regulation, as well as with US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum about gas deliveries.
However, the documents published by the Federal Ministry of Economics contain numerous redactions. The names of the conversation partners are affected, the same applies to parts of the preparation on the subject of LNG and the EU methane regulation, and notes of the discussions and minutes were also missing.
“The content of conversations is generally not recorded,” said the ministry when asked. The answer from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs continued that the exchange with business representatives is part of the minister's tasks. This does not constitute a conflict of interest. Regarding the EU methane regulation, it was said that the “factual and legal situation would be comprehensively examined”. The federal government obtains “comprehensive information from various sources” and consults with “representatives of the various interest groups”. Positioning is “not based on a meeting”.
According to research by the investigative label Cliff and FragDenStaat for the ARD podcast REICH - The Business with Gas, the conference in Houston could not have been the only opportunity at which representatives of the gas industry presented their position to the federal government. On the evening before a landmark meeting of the EU Energy Council in June, Economics Minister Katherina Reiche and other representatives of the federal government, federal ministries, the Federal Chancellery and federal authorities met with representatives of the American gas industry and the US government at the US Embassy in Berlin.
One of the participants was Charlie Riedl from the Center for LNG industry association. He was already critical of the EU Methane Regulation in May 2026 and explained: "I know that several of the companies that the association represents have instructed their sales employees not to conclude long-term contracts because of the existing uncertainty." A few hours after the meeting at the US Embassy, Reiche spoke out for the first time in favor of postponing the implementation of the EU methane regulation by three years.
An internal ministry note, which was passed on to Cliff and FragdenStaat by German Environmental Aid, suggests that the minister could count on the "backing of the Chancellor." However, it is not clear from the available documents whether and to what extent the discussions with representatives of the gas industry had an influence on the German position. What remains are the questions about the influence of gas industry stakeholders on the German stance on the methane regulation.
The EU Energy Council will meet again on October 29th. If the European Union weakens or postpones the import requirements of the Methane Ordinance, this could have a signaling effect for further changes to the law. This would then contradict the binding European goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050 and could significantly benefit the interests of the oil and gas industry.
