FSUOGM: Turkmenistan joins Global Methane Pledge at COP28

Turkmenistan has joined the Global Methane Pledge, Turkmen media reported on December 1, following an address given by the country’s president, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, to the UN COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

TurkmenPortal cited TDH as quoting Berdimuhamedov as saying: “Today, from this high podium, Turkmenistan officially announces its accession to the Global Methane Pledge.”

Under the US- and EU-led Pledge, more than 150 countries have since 2021 pledged to slash their methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, but few have stepped forward with concrete plans on how they will achieve this.

As bne IntelliNews recapped on November 28, planet-heating methane is pouring out of the gas-rich remote “hermit nation” of Turkmenistan at an alarming and immense rate. Satellite pictures prove it. Rarely responsive to the outside world, the Turkmen regime has until now been accused of fiddling while the world burns. Working to persuade the Turkmens to sign the Pledge, the Biden administration, after spotting the opportunity for a diplomatic coup, deployed big guns including US top diplomat Antony Blinken and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, to lay on the charm while at the same time attempting to give super-emitter Turkmenistan a kick in the gas.

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