Cutting methane is one of the fastest ways to slow warming in the coming decades, because methane is far more potent than CO2 and breaks down within roughly a decade. Methane projects also produce some of the most measurable carbon credits in the market. Their weak point is regulation: whether the project would happen anyway.
Methane carbon credits come from capturing or preventing methane emissions, a gas about 30 times stronger than CO2 over 100 years. This article explains how the main methane project types work, why their climate effect is fast, how the ICVCM has treated them and why the same landfill project can be additional in Brazil and not in the Netherlands.
Why methane matters
Methane (CH4) traps much more heat than CO2 per tonne, but stays in the atmosphere for a much shorter time. According to the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, a tonne of fossil methane has a global warming potential of 29.8 over 100 years, and about 80 times that of CO2 over 20 years. Carbon credits convert methane into tonnes of CO2 equivalent using the 100-year value, so one tonne of methane avoided yields close to 30 credits.
That conversion is why methane projects can issue many credits from relatively small amounts of gas, and why accurate measurement of the methane actually destroyed matters so much.
The main methane project types
Project type | How it works | What to check |
|---|---|---|
Landfill gas | collect gas from decomposing waste and flare it or burn it for electricity | whether capture is legally required, destruction efficiency, monitoring |
Coal mine methane | capture methane from active or closed mines | regulation, whether the mine would capture anyway |
Leak detection and repair | find and fix leaks in oil and gas infrastructure | regulation, the baseline leak rate |
Rice cultivation | change water management so fields emit less methane | measurement and farmer adoption |
Manure management and biogas | capture methane from manure in digesters | operation and leakage of the digester |
The ICVCM has approved several of these for the CCP label. Landfill gas methodologies were approved in July 2024, but only for projects that do not generate electricity or that generate up to 10 megawatts, because larger landfill-to-power projects can often finance themselves. Methane leak detection and repair was approved in August 2024, and a rice method in early 2026 with conditions (Core Carbon Principles explained).
The additionality test for methane: is it required by law?
For methane projects, the most important question is regulatory. If the law already requires the methane to be captured, a credit pays for compliance, not for extra climate action (additionality explained).
In the EU, the Landfill Directive has long required landfill gas to be collected at sites that receive biodegradable waste, and the EU Methane Regulation of 2024 imposes leak detection and repair duties on the oil and gas sector. Methane credits from these activities in the EU are therefore rarely additional.
In many emerging economies, there is no such requirement, or it is not enforced. A landfill gas project there can be fully additional, especially if it does not earn much from electricity.
So the same technology can be a strong credit in one country and a weak one in another. Ask which law applies at the project site, and whether it changed since the project started.
Example: landfill gas in Brazil
The Brusque landfill gas project in Santa Catarina, Brazil (Verra VCS 4138, methodology ACM0001), which is part of the Regreener portfolio, collects gas from a municipal landfill, destroys methane in a high-efficiency flare and is designed to use it to generate up to 4.56 MW of electricity. It is expected to avoid around 152,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year, and it removes odours and health risks for nearby residents. At that size it sits within the ICVCM’s 10-megawatt condition for landfill-to-energy projects.
Tip from Bernard de Wit, Founder of Regreener: “For a landfill or mine project, ask for two things: the legal requirement for gas capture at the site, and the measured share of gas actually destroyed. Methane credits are only as good as the flare’s monitoring, and a meter that stopped working for a month should mean fewer credits, not the same number.”
Where methane credits fit in a portfolio
Methane credits are avoidance credits. They do not remove CO2 from the atmosphere and do not count towards SBTi’s removal requirement (SBTi carbon removal requirements). Their strengths are measurability, a fast effect on warming and, for landfill projects, local health benefits. They suit companies that want to fund high-impact climate action now, next to a growing share of removals.
Prices for methane avoidance credits are generally lower than for removals; see carbon credit prices in 2026 for current ranges.
“Methane is where a tonne of carbon finance buys the fastest climate effect. That makes it worth having in a portfolio, as long as you check the one thing that decides whether it is real: would the gas have been captured anyway?”
Bernard de Wit, Founder of Regreener
See the methane projects in our portfolio
Including landfill gas capture in Brazil, screened against our quality framework.
