Reporting requirements for importers of fossil fuels

Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector (Methane Regulation) was adopted in June 2024. It aims to prevent emissions of methane in the energy sector, from domestic production and imported fossil fuels, by obliging energy companies or importers in the EU to detect and prevent methane emissions. Most of the obligations on domestic energy companies are already applied, while requirements for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of methane emissions relating to imported fossil fuels are due to apply from 1 January 2027. The regulation provides that intensity limits for methane emissions on such imports will be proposed after an assessment scheduled for August 2029.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, with a global warming potential almost 30 times higher than that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year timescale, and 82.5 times over 20 years. Reduction of methane emissions is regarded as a fast and cost-effective way to mitigate climate change.

In a context of global oil and gas supply disruptions due to the Hormuz crisis, several Member States and oil and gas industry stakeholders raised concerns about the impact of the MRV requirements on the security of energy supply. In April 2026, the United States (US) Ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, criticised the Methane Regulation's MRV requirements as 'extraterritorial, prescriptive and paperwork-heavy', and warned of impacts on energy supply. The US is a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to the EU.

The Commission refused to reopen the Methane Regulation but published, on 20 July 2026, guidance on MRV for importers and a recommendation to postpone the imposition of penalties for non-compliant importers by three years. However, industry stakeholders expressed doubts regarding the legal certainty of this approach. On 18 September 2026, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, wrote a letter to the European Commission, demanding that the MRV requirements be delayed by one year, suggesting technical and operational improvements to the regulation. On 29 September, Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen announced that the Commission would examine possibilities to postpone the reporting obligations for fossil fuel importers by one year, while insisting that the EU does not backtrack from its ambition. This delay would also give Member States more time to be fully prepared for implementing the MRV rules.

European Parliament position

Parliament's resolution of 23 October 2025 on the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2025 in Belém, Brazil (COP30) stresses the critical role of the Methane Regulation and its implementation in driving upstream methane abatement, securing investor confidence and setting global standards. Moreover, it urged more efforts to reduce methane emissions in the EU and in third countries.

The resolution of 21 October 2021 on an EU strategy to reduce methane emissions had called for addressing the upstream methane associated with imports of fossil fuels into the EU. This demand was taken up in the Methane Regulation, proposed in December 2021 and adopted in 2024.