Achieving the Global Methane Pledge through key pathways in inter-country production and consumption networks using feasible technologies at minimum cost

The Global Methane Pledge faces significant challenges due to the ambiguous attribution of methane emissions within complex global supply chains and the uncertain costs of mitigation technologies. To address this knowledge gap, the paper developed a multi-regional input-output model based on environmental expansion, reflecting global production and consumption networks annually during 2000-2020, covering 76 major economies and their 14 sectors. It innovatively proposed an Environmental Double Filtering Method (EDFM), which identified the key pathways of global methane emissions, and systematically estimated the emission reduction potential with feasible technologies and the lowest cost for achieving the goals of the “Global Methane Pledge”. It distinguished the methane emissions into those embedded in domestic intermediate input (DOE) and versus those in imported intermediate inputs (IME). The results reveal a highly concentrated emission structure: just 0.24% of all network linkages account for approximately 60% of global anthropogenic methane emissions. To achieve the 2030 targets, the aggregated potential reduction in optimistic case for DOE across key linkages are projected to reach 71600 kt with a cost of US$20.4 billion, for IME are projected to 4200 kt at a cost of US$0.3 billion. The analysis identifies distinct geographic and sectoral hotspots; cost burdens are primarily concentrated in Agricultural DOE (China, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and Waste DOE (Russia, India and China), whereas significant negative abatement costs (profitable reductions) are found in Primary Energy IME (Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Canada, the United States, and Mexico). Notably, specific technological interventions, such as Alternate Wetting and Drying, manure storage covers in Chinese and Brazilian agriculture, demonstrate high feasibility. The research provides a systematic and quantitative approach for global methane reduction. These findings give a strategic roadmap for international collaboration, highlighting that focusing on a minimal set of high-impact pathways can lead to significant progress toward the Global Methane Pledge.