Ten years ago this month, Colorado became the first U.S. state to directly tackle methane emissions from oil and natural gas production.

It started with an unlikely coalition of environmental groups, major oil and gas companies and state air quality officials, who worked together to develop new regulations targeting methane. Those regulations, finalized in February 2014, were hailed as a “model for the nation.”

But that was just the beginning. During the next 10 years, Colorado’s regulations and industry practices continued to evolve thanks to the work of regulators, environmental advocates, energy professionals, academic institutions, technology companies, elected officials and regular citizens.

Inspections were ramped up. On-site equipment was upgraded. Technologies for methane detection and measurement dramatically improved. Data collection surged. Reporting requirements were toughened.

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And through it all, Colorado remained a major energy-producing state: From 2014 to 2023, the state’s combined oil and natural gas production climbed more than 50%, according to monthly production data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In fact, energy industry advocates have routinely cited the strength of Colorado’s regulations in defense of the industry when drilling bans and other highly restrictive measures have been put before the public.

What happened in the Centennial State has not stayed here. In the arena of energy and environmental policy, Colorado is widely credited with shaping the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approach to regulating methane, which was released in draft form in 2021 and finalized late last year.

But the lessons learned in Colorado, and the challenges that continue to be worked, aren’t just nationally significant. They’re also echoed in the international approach to regulating methane, which has taken on new urgency during the past several months.

Three examples highlight this influence.

First, fixing methane leaks isn’t always glamorous, but pound-for-pound, methane traps much more heat than carbon dioxide, the better-known greenhouse gas that’s emitted from tailpipes and smokestacks.

Therefore, a small investment in curbing methane emissions can yield a big return in terms of slowing climate change. The economics improve even further in that companies that emit less methane have more natural gas to sell.

Colorado figured this out a decade ago.

Nine years later, in 2023, the International Energy Agency estimated major methane cuts by the end of this decade could preserve hope of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The cost: roughly $75 billion globally, or two percent of the oil and gas sector’s income in 2022.

Second, since 2014, Colorado environmental regulators have made a series of updates to the state’s methane rules, reflecting lessons learned and new ideas to keep driving emissions lower. In 2021, state regulators introduced a new key benchmark — emissions intensity.

In addition to meeting regulations and permitting requirements for individual locations and pieces of equipment, Colorado oil and gas companies are now responsible for reducing “the percentage of greenhouse gas emitted” per barrel of oil or cubic foot of natural gas produced. The intensity benchmark will tighten over time, but companies will have flexibility to prioritize the most cost-effective fixes.

Soon after, the federal government and other nations followed suit. The Inflation Reduction Act includes a methane intensity benchmark of 0.2% for oil and gas production, and on the global stage, the European Union is finalizing a similar methane intensity standard for natural gas that’s produced domestically or imported from outside the trading bloc.

Third, perhaps the biggest challenge when it comes to reducing methane emissions is measurement: When a gas is released into the open air, it’s hard to measure the precise volume and mass that escaped.

Colorado has embraced a suite of advanced measurement technologies that have evolved over the past decade. Continuous ground-level monitors, drone surveys, aircraft sensors, satellite imagery and operational data from oil and gas facilities themselves can paint a more accurate picture of methane emissions than ever before.

Methane measurement technologies and data-science solutions were developed with the help of researchers at Colorado universities and private-sector pioneers like Project Canary and MiQ.

In 2023, Colorado introduced a new requirement that emissions data reported to the state must be based on direct measurements, rather than the averages, formulas and assumptions that used to be relied upon.

The push for measurement-based emissions data is now going global.

A few months after Colorado’s direct-measurement rule was adopted, the U.S. government and the European Union publicly announced a new international working group on the same subject. More than a dozen nations are working “to develop a consensus-based approach for the measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification” of methane and other emissions, according to a joint statement from the participating countries.

And on the sidelines of last year’s UN climate change talks, energy companies representing more than 40% of global oil and gas production cited the need for improved measurement as part of a pledge to achieve near-zero methane emissions by 2030.

Back in 2014, Colorado may not have set out to be a global leader in controlling methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. But the solutions that were developed here, in response to local needs and pressures, have attracted a national and international audience in the decade since.  

Morgan Bazilian is the director of the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines. Simon Lomax is a policy and outreach advisor to the Payne Institute. Brad Handler is the program manager of the institute’s Sustainable Finance Lab.