Uganda’s preparations to reduce methane emissions from its emerging oil and gas industry face questions over whether the country will have adequate monitoring systems, clear regulations and enforceable controls in place before commercial production begins.
A briefing by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) identifies gaps in Uganda’s legal, technical and institutional readiness to monitor methane emissions, while a meeting report from the Ministry of Water and Environment shows that the government is still working to establish the data and reporting arrangements needed to account for emissions from domestic oil and gas production.
The concerns come as Uganda prepares to begin commercial oil production from the Lake Albert development, involving TotalEnergies’ Tilenga project, CNOOC’s Kingfisher project and the Uganda National Oil Company.
The government’s draft National Action Plan for Short-Lived Climate Pollutants and Methane Emissions Roadmap is intended to guide action on methane and other pollutants.
However, the Climate Change Department (CCD) acknowledged during an October 2 technical engagement with civil society that the document was still under development and required further work on data gaps, institutional coordination, financing and monitoring.
One of the central issues is how Uganda will measure emissions from oil production once operations begin.
According to the meeting report, Assistant Commissioner Muhammad Semambo, who chaired the engagement on behalf of Commissioner Bob Natif, explained that the country’s current Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), which sets out the country’s climate commitments, includes oil and gas-related mitigation measures but does not yet establish a production-related greenhouse gas emissions target for the sector.
This is because commercial production has not commenced and the national greenhouse gas inventory does not yet contain actual activity data for domestic oil and gas production.
The report says existing fuel-related emissions in the national inventory primarily reflect the consumption of imported fuels in Uganda rather than emissions from domestic oil and gas production.
Civil society representatives questioned why production-related emissions appeared as zero in the draft roadmap despite emissions estimates and projections contained in environmental impact assessments for oil and gas developments.
The Climate Change Department clarified that the zero figures reflected the absence of actual domestic production activity data in the national inventory.
They did not establish that planned oil and gas operations would produce no emissions.
The department said that once production begins, industry operators and responsible institutions will need to collect activity data using agreed parameters and incorporate the information into a sectoral inventory, which will then feed into the national greenhouse gas inventory.
The meeting report identifies the need to establish reliable arrangements for collecting, validating and reporting this information before production begins.
NRGI’s briefing raises a separate concern about whether Uganda’s existing laws provide sufficiently detailed requirements for controlling methane emissions from petroleum operations.
According to the institute, restrictions on gas flaring and venting in existing petroleum laws are not backed by detailed methane-specific regulations, measurement standards and enforcement mechanisms.
The briefing also identifies weaknesses in Uganda’s emissions accounting. It says the national greenhouse gas inventory relies largely on Tier 1 default emission factors, which provide general estimates rather than measurements tailored to the specific characteristics of individual facilities or operations.
This limits the accuracy with which emissions can be assessed and makes it harder to establish reliable baselines against which future reductions can be measured.
NRGI also points to capacity constraints, weak coordination among institutions and limited transparency as challenges to effective monitoring, reporting and verification.
The concerns raise questions about how Uganda will establish the scale of methane emissions from its petroleum industry, determine whether operators are complying with applicable requirements and assess whether mitigation measures are delivering results.
The October meeting report does not establish that Uganda has no controls on methane emissions. Instead, it documents the need to strengthen data collection and reporting arrangements, clarify institutional responsibilities and build technical capacity as the country moves towards production.
Methane is the main component of natural gas and a powerful greenhouse gas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that it is responsible for about a third of the warming experienced today.
Over the 20 years following its release, methane has about 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide.
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition says global human-caused methane emissions need to fall by 30 to 60 per cent below 2020 levels by 2030 to align with pathways limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Agriculture, fossil fuel production and waste are the main sources of human-caused methane emissions globally.
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition estimates that agriculture accounts for about 40 per cent, fossil fuels 35 per cent, and solid waste and wastewater about 20 per cent.
Although Uganda’s methane roadmap covers a broader range of sources, the oil and gas sector presents a significant opportunity for targeted action because many available measures can be implemented using existing technologies and operational practices.
The supplied global estimates indicate that measures in fossil fuels, waste and agriculture could reduce methane emissions by approximately 180 million tonnes annually by 2030.
The fossil fuel sector has some of the most readily available and cost-effective technical options, including measures to detect and repair leaks and to reduce the release of gas during operations.
Methane also contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, which harms human health, reduces crop productivity and damages ecosystems, according to the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization.
The October 2 engagement brought together officials from the Climate Change Department and civil society organisations to review the draft roadmap and discuss how methane emissions should be incorporated into national climate planning.
Participants raised concerns about the roadmap’s planning periods, the use of 2019 as a baseline year, geographical coverage, institutional responsibilities, financing and monitoring and evaluation.
The report says the department agreed to review sections of the document to improve clarity, including the relationship between the 2035 planning horizon, which aligns with Uganda’s next climate commitments, and the 2040 horizon linked to Vision 2040.
Participants also called for clearer identification of the institutions responsible for collecting data across the oil and gas value chain, from extraction and processing to transportation and refining.
Paul Bagabo, NRGI’s Uganda country manager, said the institute was considering a needs assessment and targeted capacity-building activities. The proposed approach would involve identifying specialist organisations to provide technical training, while NRGI and its partners convene relevant institutions and civil society groups.
The Climate Change Department said capacity-building activities were already taking place through sectoral technical working groups and transparency initiatives.
The meeting report, however, lists further training and collaboration as proposed actions rather than completed programmes.
NRGI’s briefing also raises questions about Uganda’s engagement with international initiatives on methane reduction. According to the briefing summary, Uganda has not joined the Global Methane Pledge or the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, known as OGMP 2.0.
The Global Methane Pledge is an international initiative aimed at reducing global methane emissions, while OGMP 2.0 provides a reporting framework for companies to improve the measurement and disclosure of methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
NRGI recommends that Uganda develop a comprehensive methane roadmap covering the petroleum value chain, establish emissions targets and strengthen measurement, reporting and verification in line with international standards.
It also recommends clarifying institutional responsibilities, strengthening the legal framework, incorporating oil and gas emissions into future national climate commitments, improving technical capacity and combining incentives with penalties to encourage compliance.
The October 2 meeting report records the government’s willingness to continue reviewing the draft roadmap and engage civil society.
It does not show that all the proposed changes have been adopted or that the regulatory and monitoring gaps identified by NRGI have been resolved.
As the country approaches commercial oil production, the test will be whether the roadmap moves beyond planning to establish measurable requirements, reliable emissions data, and clear responsibility for ensuring that methane is captured, monitored, and reduced across the petroleum industry-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
