Methane Mitigation

Fast-Tracking Agriculture Decarbonization in Southeast Asia

Elyssa Kaur Ludher, Jiahui Qiu

• Publisher: ISEAS
• Year: 2026
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9789815306989
• Subtopic: Global Warming & Climate Change
• Index: Biological Sciences

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that must be urgently mitigated to keep global temperatures within the targets of the Paris Agreement. The agrifood system contributed 55 per cent of Southeast Asia's methane emissions in 2022. Half of this is from rice cultivation, followed by agrifood waste and enteric fermentation. Solutions to tackle emissions from rice cultivation, agrifood waste and enteric fermentation already exist. But achieving widespread application of these is a challenge because of financial constraints and slow adoption by farmers. Emerging biotechnology solutions appear promising, but they require further R&D investment. Six ASEAN member states (AMS) have signed the Global Methane Pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, but regional agriculture methane emissions have still risen since 2020. AMS vary in how much they incorporate agricultural methane abatement into their climate strategies, but they share a common challenge of access to finance for implementation. The region's governments as well as ASEAN should collaborate to develop suitable low methane solutions for agriculture and provide harmonized granular data, which is key for monitoring and reporting and for evaluation for access to climate finance. Many of the region's climate mitigation plans are conditional on international assistance. While support from ASEAN dialogue partners and international organizations exist—including with first-mover Korea through its ASEAN-Korea Cooperation on Methane Mitigation—such arrangements need to be facilitated by experienced interlocutors at all levels.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Executive Summary
• Methane Mitigation: Fast-Tracking Agriculture Decarbonization in Southeast Asia