Only two of Southeast Asia’s 11 countries have established dedicated national methane reduction plans with specific targets, despite broader commitments across the region to cut emissions of the potent greenhouse gas, a new report has found.
Cambodia and Vietnam are the only countries with such plans, although 10 Southeast Asian nations include methane in their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, according to the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED).
The findings were published in CEED’s report, Tackling Methane Mitigation in Southeast Asia, released Nov. 12 on the sidelines of the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Türkiye.
CEED urged governments to adopt enforceable regulations, warning that voluntary commitments alone would not deliver the methane reductions needed to meet global climate targets.
“Ultimately, voluntary pledges are not enough. Southeast Asian governments must enact enforceable regulations that make methane mitigation a binding obligation for both government and corporate actors,” said Gerry Arances, executive director of CEED.
Seven Southeast Asian countries have joined the Global Methane Pledge, which seeks to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
They are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. Brunei, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand have not joined.
Methane accounts for approximately 30% of the increase in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. Over a 20-year period, it has a warming impact about 86 times greater than carbon dioxide, according to CEED.
The gas is released through agriculture, waste management, coal mining, and oil and gas operations.
In Southeast Asia, the energy sector accounted for 26% of methane emissions in 2024, according to ASEAN Centre for Energy data cited in the report. Coal and oil and gas operations each accounted for 10 percentage points of the regional total, while bioenergy contributed 6 percentage points.
Indonesia is the region’s largest methane emitter, followed by Malaysia, the report found.
Both countries have introduced measures to reduce emissions from fossil fuel operations, but neither has a dedicated national methane action plan with specific country-level reduction targets under CEED’s assessment.
Indonesia’s state-owned oil company, Pertamina, aims to reduce its methane emissions by 40% by 2030, while Malaysia’s PETRONAS has set a target of reducing emissions from its gas operations by 70% by the same year.
Vietnam has adopted a national methane action plan targeting a 30% reduction from 2020 levels by 2030. Its measures include controlling leaks from oil and gas operations, improving emissions monitoring and requiring methane drainage in underground coal mines.
Cambodia’s methane reduction roadmap focuses largely on agriculture and waste management, which account for most of the country’s methane emissions.
In the Philippines, the government has developed a methane roadmap and a national action plan on short-lived climate pollutants covering 13 priority mitigation measures across several sectors, including agriculture, waste, energy and transport.
However, these initiatives do not constitute a dedicated national methane action plan with specific country-level reduction targets under CEED’s classification.
The report also noted that the Philippine National Oil Company has not established a standalone methane reduction target.
CEED raised concerns about methane emissions from fossil gas operations as Southeast Asian governments pursue their energy and climate policies.
Fossil gas consists primarily of methane, which can escape into the atmosphere during extraction, processing, transportation, storage and distribution.
Leaks and intentional releases can undermine the claimed climate advantages of gas over other fossil fuels, while burning gas continues to produce carbon dioxide.
“Discussions on methane at COP31 cannot be separated from fossil gas and transition away from fossil fuels. There can be no accelerated climate action if the urgent need to slash methane emissions is ignored,” said Arances.
The report cited findings that the energy sector accounts for 72% of the global technical potential to reduce methane emissions by 2030. Many of these reductions can be achieved using existing technologies, including leak detection and repair systems.
CEED also cited satellite data from Carbon Mapper showing a methane plume linked to offshore oil and gas activity in Sarawak, Malaysia, on June 6, 2026.
The observation estimated methane emissions at 3,500 kilograms per hour. Only one observation was available for the location, highlighting the need for repeated monitoring to establish the extent of emissions.
CEED called on governments to require fossil fuel operators to detect, measure and disclose methane emissions and verify whether measures to reduce them are effective.
The organization also urged stronger public education and technical training to help regulators, institutions and communities identify and respond to methane pollution.
Arances said methane reduction requires immediate action on emissions from existing fossil fuel operations, alongside efforts to stop the expansion and eventually phase out fossil fuel production and infrastructure.
“Methane regulation is not an alternative to fossil fuel phaseout, but an immediate intervention that complements it,” he said.
CEED maintained that governments must establish binding requirements for emissions monitoring, reporting and mitigation to ensure that climate commitments translate into measurable reductions.
