The Global Methane Pledge: Complementing or Fragmenting the UNFCCC?

The Global Methane Pledge, launched at COP26 in 2021, put one of the most potent short-lived greenhouse gases front and centre. Its 160 participants, covering approximately 60% of global methane emissions, pledge to cut human-induced methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030 (Guo et al., 2025). As a climate club, or international cooperative initiative, the Global Methane Pledge has emerged as a particularly effective phase-out club that combines high participation, strong commitments, member benefits, and a large coverage of global emissions (Koppenborg, 2025). Climate clubs such as the Global Methane Pledge have a large potential to contribute to overall climate mitigation (Lui et al., 2021). However, much debate remains on whether these serve to complement (see for example Koppenborg, 2025; Unger et al., 2020; Widerberg & Pattberg, 2015), or provide an alternative to predominant climate governance institutions such as the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement (see Naim, 2009; Nordhaus, 2015). The Global Methane Pledge, at face value, has mixed interactions with the UNFCCC. While it was launched at a COP and it has held its 2025 ministerial in tandem with COP30, it is mostly detached from UNFCCC institutions (Climate & Clean Air Coalition, 2025; van Asselt & Pekkarinen, 2021). Still, the initiative has increased interest in the mitigation of methane throughout the UNFCCC, as exemplified by the inclusion of more and more policies and measures targeting methane sources in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the UNFCCC (Guo et al., 2025; United Nations Environment Programme, 2025). This paper aims to clarify the relationship and interaction between the Global Methane Pledge and the UNFCCC. This is done on both an institutional level as well as a substantive level, looking at methane targets and pledges under the Global Methane Pledge and the UNFCCC. On the institutional level, a historical network analysis is applied to the Global Methane Pledge (Conroy et al., 2022). This maps key moments in time in its conception and development, particularly paying attention to interactions secondary institutions and actors such as the UNFCCC and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. Substantively, methane initiatives and pledges are mapped both within the UNFCCC, such as the integration of methane targets in NDCs, and those coming forth from the Global Methane Pledge, such as the 20 Methane Action Plans submitted to the GMP. This will be done through a document analysis of these pledges and roadmaps, adding insights of the newest NDC submissions to existing research such as that of Malley et al. (2023).