Next week the European Commission will present recommendations to suspend the sanctions provided for in the methane emissions regulation. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, trapping eighty times more heat than carbon dioxide in the first twenty years of its presence in the atmosphere; but it is also the main component of natural gas, an energy source that the European Union needs and almost entirely imports from abroad.
After the revision of the ETS, that is the EU system for trading CO2 allowances, the European Commission – still led by Ursula von der Leyen – is thus continuing the process of “lightening” the green regulatory framework introduced in recent years.
WHAT THE METHANE EMISSIONS REGULATION PROVIDES
The European Union has adopted a regulation aimed at containing methane emissions that requires companies both to accurately monitor leaks of this greenhouse gas along the entire supply chain (from fossil resource extraction to distribution), and to report them to authorities after having the data verified by third parties.
Starting from 2027, hydrocarbon producers outside the Union will also have to comply with the rules. Those who violate them could receive a sanction amounting to up to 20 percent of their annual turnover.
THE COMMISSION GIVES IN TO PRESSURE FROM THE UNITED STATES AND QATAR
Countries like the United States and Qatar, from which the bloc purchases large quantities of gas – in 2025 the United States accounted for 26 percent of total imports, and Qatar 3.7 percent – oppose the rules: they do not want to bear regulatory burdens or the risk of fines, and have thus informed Brussels that their energy exports could be redirected to other markets.
The European Commission has effectively yielded to this pressure, also because the Union depends on gas imports and storage levels are generally low (the conflict between the United States and Iran has complicated supplies).
The Director-General for Energy, Céline Gauer, told the Industry Committee of the European Parliament that the recommendations “will urge member states not to apply sanctions for a certain period of time, giving the market the necessary time to adapt.” Also because no EU country has yet established an entity to verify methane emissions reported by companies, which therefore cannot certify their compliance with the regulation.
AMERICANS AND QATARIS AGAINST THE SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTIVE
The United States and Qatar had already urged the European Commission to review – if not eliminate – another piece of the Green Deal: the CS3DD, or the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive.
The CS3DD introduces a series of obligations for verifying the environmental and social impact of companies – both European and foreign – with quite broad scope: companies, for example, will be held responsible for ecological devastation and human rights abuses committed along their entire supply chain, even abroad, risking fines up to 5 percent of their global turnover.
WHICH EU COUNTRIES ARE ASKING FOR FEWER RESTRICTIONS ON FOSSIL IMPORTS
There is a group of EU member countries asking the Commission to relax rules on oil and natural gas imports, so as not to complicate supplies or make them more expensive: in this group are Italy, but also Belgium, Poland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Some of these – Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia – also support a deep reform of the ETS.
THE WARNING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY
The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to energy security, explained that in 2027 oil production complying with the methane requirements adopted by the European Union will amount to 22.5 million barrels per day. In 2025 the European Union imported 9.3 million barrels of oil per day.
The Agency believes that, as a result of the regulation, “the crude oil pool that European refineries will be able to legally import will shrink by over 50 percent.” This is because some crude varieties suitable for certain uses cannot be easily replaced, or because producers might prefer to sell them in other markets. For example, neither Mexico nor Venezuela, which produce the heavy crude used in asphalt production, meet the European methane emissions requirements.
“Limiting the availability of crude oil for European Union refineries could lead to higher raw material costs or the use of lower-quality crudes,” the Agency added, ultimately weakening the bloc’s energy security.
