London, 27 August: Climate Group has confirmed the four recipients of SMAC's inaugural pilot project grants: Enugu State (Nigeria), Piaui State (Brazil), Yucatán (Mexico), and Jalisco (Mexico). Each grant, worth US $25,000, will fund government-backed projects to cut methane from waste or agriculture, two sectors where subnational governments have the greatest regulatory reach and leverage.
Alongside the grant announcement, the governments of Buenos Aires (Argentina), Enugu State (Nigeria), Piaui State (Brazil), and Sergipe (Brazil) have joined the Subnational Methane Action Coalition (SMAC). The four new members bring SMAC's reach to 37 states and regions across the world.
The coalition brings together state and regional governments with the tools, expertise and peer network to cut methane emissions. Methane is responsible for a third of the rise in global temperatures since pre-industrial levels, and its abatement is the fastest way to slow global warming in the short term.
The four pilot project grants selected are:
Enugu State, Nigeria (waste): From Policy and Institutional Framework to Action: Piloting Subnational Methane Mitigation in Enugu State's Waste Sector. This project will develop a framework and pilot practical mitigation actions at selected dumpsites in Enugu State, including establishing a methane baseline, stakeholder engagement, and an implementation roadmap. The project is delivered in partnership with the Society for Planet and Prosperity.
Piauí, Brazil (waste): Piauí Zero Open Dumps: State-level Methane Mitigation Policies. Led directly by the state's environment secretariat, this project will strengthen selective waste collection in communities and deliver recovery plans for closed dumpsites.
Yucatán, Mexico (agriculture): Methane Mitigation Strategy in Livestock Systems in the Puuc Region with a Biocultural and Gender Lens. This regenerative project, delivered in partnership with JIBIOPUUC on behalf of the state's Secretariat of Sustainable Development, will work with 15 women farmers to reduce methane from cattle through better nutrition and management.
Jalisco, Mexico (agriculture): Biodigesters for Sustainable Livestock Farming in Jalisco (BIOGAN). This project will demonstrate the technical and financial viability of livestock methane reduction through biodigesters. The project includes three pilot installations, methane baselines, a feasibility study for scaling to 50–200 producers, and a public policy proposal for the state government. It’s delivered in partnership with CIPAD Consultores on behalf of SEMADET Jalisco.
Dr. Arturo Balderas Torres, CIPAD Founder and Director, Project Leader for Jalisco, said: “Biodigesters for methane management are not new. In the past, different projects and programs fell short and had limited lasting impact. At CIPAD, we are honored to join SMAC and the State of Jalisco in the search for models that work for small producers, and we are hopeful that this pilot in Jalisco can help this technology deliver and inform implementation in other regions.”
Jebi Rahman, Director of Global Implementation at Climate Group, said: “This grant round drew strong interest from state and regional governments from across Asia, Africa and Latin America, and the projects we received reflect that: practical, locally led work that will cut methane emissions and, by extension, ease pollution, protect public health and strengthen economies.”
“This work is only possible through our grant partnership with the Global Methane Hub, and we're glad to have worked alongside our colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment and the California Environmental Protection Agency on launching this. But four grants aren't enough. We have governments across every region ready to act on methane, with plans already worked out and communities ready to benefit. What's missing isn't ambition or evidence, it's funding. We need more of it, and we need it directed at the subnational governments who are ultimately tasked with the delivery of the climate transition.”
Free to join, SMAC empowers its members to share best practices and develop action plans tailored to local contexts. Members access technical and policy support from experts at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Supporting media can be found here.
For more press information, please contact Tom Nice at Climate Group on Tnice@climategroup.org.
Note to editors
Founded in 2023 by the California State Government at the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference COP28 in Dubai, the Subnational Methane Action Coalition is a group of states, regions and provinces leading on tackling methane emissions. The fastest way to curb rising global temperatures in the short-term, the reduction of this potent greenhouse gas falls largely to state and provincial governments, as they often serve as the primary regulators of its three main sources: agriculture, energy and waste. Free to join, the coalition enables its members around the world to share technical data, policy resources and best practices. It also pairs them with technical and policy experts at the University of California, Berkeley and their networks.