EU Parliament Votes 341-225 to Delay Methane Importer Rules to 2031

The European Parliament has voted 341 to 225 to delay methane monitoring and reporting rules for oil, gas and coal importers by three years, to 2031. The decision triples the one-year postponement the European Commission proposed earlier this month, and it lands squarely on the world's first comprehensive legislation regulating methane emissions tied to fossil fuel imports.

The vote establishes Parliament's negotiating position on the Commission's proposal to push back requirements for fossil fuel importers under the 2024 methane law. That law exists to help the EU cut methane emissions from the energy sector, support its climate goals and improve air quality. It now faces a slower timetable than either its drafters or the Commission intended.

Why the delay, and why three years?

Parliament agrees with the Commission that a postponement is needed. It does not agree on the length. In a statement announcing the adoption of its position, Parliament said importers have warned they may not be able to secure enough compliant supplies, with energy markets already strained.

The Commission's original proposal, tabled earlier this month, would have shifted the start date for monitoring, reporting and verification requirements for natural gas, oil and coal importers by one year. Those obligations were initially set to begin in 2028. The Commission cited the need to avoid additional pressures on the security of supply of imported fossil fuels in the current geopolitical context.

Parliament's position pushes that start date to 2031. The difference between the two positions is not cosmetic: three additional years of unverified imports under a law whose import provisions were its headline feature.

The takeaway is simple — Parliament has chosen supply security over schedule, and by a wide margin.

What else moved?

The vote extends deadlines for EU producers as well as importers. Parliament also wants to give EU oil and gas operators three more years to submit verified reports combining source-level and site-level methane measurements.

• Operated assets: deadline extended from 2027 to February 2030.
• Non-operated assets: deadline extended from 2027 to August 2031.

That second date deserves attention. For non-operated assets, the reporting obligation would arrive after the import rules themselves take effect in 2031, assuming both survive the negotiation intact.

What does the 2024 law actually require?

The law, adopted in 2024, set rules across four areas:

• Measuring, reporting and verifying methane emissions.
• Finding and repairing leaks.
• Limiting venting and flaring.
• Regulating methane emissions related to oil, gas and coal imports — a global first in comprehensive methane legislation.

The stakes are not small. Methane carries as much as 80 times the warming power of CO2, and oil and gas facilities rank among the largest industrial sources of methane emissions. Rapid reduction of methane emissions is widely viewed as one of the most effective near-term actions available to keep the global warming limit of 1.5°C within reach.

A three-year delay to import-side verification therefore touches one of the most potent levers in near-term climate policy. Parliament has decided the lever can wait.

What happens next?

Parliament's vote is a negotiating position, not final law. The position now goes into the EU legislative process, where Parliament must reconcile its three-year delay with the Commission's one-year proposal before the amendment can take effect.

The milestone to watch is the trilogue outcome: whether the final text lands on 2028 plus one year, or 2028 plus three. That single number will determine how long the world's first methane import regime remains a law in name only.