Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman at the White House Summit on Reducing Climate Super Pollutants

DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR ISOBEL COLEMAN: It's great to be here today alongside so many of our partners.

As you may know, USAID and the EPA recently signed an MoU [Memorandum of Understanding] formalizing our work together on environmental challenges. That includes USAID sitting, for the first time, on the EPA-chaired Global Methane Initiative. I raise this because the action we take to reduce pollution abroad means we are less exposed to the impacts of climate change here, and vice versa.

Last year, USAID programs helped prevent around 300 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equal to taking a quarter of cars in the United States off the road for a year, mostly through helping our partners scale renewable energy or conserve tropical forests.

Addressing super pollutants including methane is another way we are really looking to make a dent in global emissions moving forward, given that six of the ten highest methane-emitting countries are countries where USAID works.

At the same time, cutting methane emissions can drive significant development gains. It means improving people's health - as methane emissions worsen smog and trigger asthma and bronchitis. It means increasing global food security - because one of the most powerful methods for reducing methane emissions is ensuring food gets on people's plates instead of rotting in landfills. And it means reducing energy prices when we work with gas companies to detect and repair methane leaks in their pipelines.

Recognizing this, at COP27 in Egypt, Administrator Power launched a Methane Accelerator to fund and scale innovative efforts to address methane emissions throughout USAID's work, in partnership with the State Department. To date, USAID is working with 13 countries to reduce methane emissions across sectors such as energy, sanitation, and agriculture.

We also named our first ever Methane Coordinator to work with teams across USAID and the U.S. government on a cohesive, whole-of-government effort to improve development outcomes while preventing super polluting emissions. And we're already seeing results.

For example, as this group knows, one large source of methane emissions and air pollution is gas flaring. Last year, a USAID-led Power Africa initiative worked with the Government of Nigeria to issue licenses to some 40 successful bidders to capture flared gas and sell the byproduct, for example, as compressed natural gas for cars. Work under these licenses will eliminate more than 5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in methane emissions per year - that's equal to the emissions from 13 natural gas plants - while putting gas that would've been wasted into productive use. The effort is also anticipated to generate a substantial number of local jobs and $1 billion in potential revenue. That's $1 billion that would've otherwise been burned without our work.

With respect to increasing food security, last year at the UN General Assembly, USAID stood up a new food loss and waste accelerator that provides matching grants for businesses to invest in innovative ways to address food waste and minimize food loss in their supply chains. Food loss and waste contributes up to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This includes toxic methane emissions generated by discarded food as it decomposes.

Today, I'm excited to announce that through this Accelerator, USAID has formed new partnerships with nine private companies to address food loss and waste. We'll work with businesses across Kenya, Nepal, and Tanzania on solutions such as improving food processing and storage so food doesn't rot before it even leaves the farm, or converting food that would otherwise have been wasted into fertilizer and animal feed.

Finally, we also understand that to truly reduce emissions, we need to improve how we measure and observe emissions. Over the past decade, significant advancements in methane monitoring, supported by domestic legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act, have improved our ability to detect and measure methane and other pollutants within the United States. It is encouraging to see growing global collaboration between international partners to develop the necessary systems and tools for emissions measurement and observation. If we can pinpoint emissions, we can act to stop them at their source.

I especially want to acknowledge our counterparts at State, NASA, EPA, and other organizations, like the Bezos Earth Foundation for their support to MethaneSat, to develop more robust systems and tools for monitoring and detecting emissions worldwide. Our hope is that efforts like these continue to demonstrate to our partners in the development community, other countries, and the private sector the value of work on methane, not just for the climate but for all development progress.

Thank you.

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