Climate and Environmental Governance: Methane: Asean’s hidden climate and economic opportunity

This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 22, 2025 - December 28, 2025

The Malaysian government is expected to table the National Climate Change Bill (also known as the RUUPIN) in parliament in the coming months, providing a legal framework for climate action and anchoring market-based financing for adaptation and resilience. Malaysia’s global climate pledges, including the goal of cutting methane emissions by 30% by 2030, were reaffirmed by the then acting minister of natural resources and environmental sustainability Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani when announcing this timeline.

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is also a potent greenhouse gas responsible for roughly 30% of global warming, because it traps over 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in a 20-year period. Methane reduction is fast emerging as a defining front in the global fight against climate change.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is a global non-profit driving practical solutions for a safer climate and a more resilient energy future. For more than a decade, EDF has advanced scientific and economic efforts to highlight how methane mitigation is a rare opportunity to address emissions while benefiting energy supply, economic development, and the climate. About 25% of human-made methane comes from the oil and gas sector; reducing these emissions is an economic and climate relief opportunity.

Momentum is building across Southeast Asia to curb methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The region’s efforts gained structure in 2023 with the launch of the Asean Energy Sector Methane Leadership Program (MLP) in Kuala Lumpur — an initiative backed by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, now entering its second phase (MLP 2.0). PETRONAS set a regional benchmark at COP28 by becoming the first national oil company in Asean to commit to halving methane emissions by 2025. The following year, Asean energy ministers spotlighted MLP as a model of regional cooperation. By COP29, that collaboration deepened, as leading national oil companies across Asean pledged a joint path forward — to establish a regional methane emissions baseline by 2025 and set measurable reduction targets for 2030, underscoring a collective drive towards a lower emission energy future.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE