The UN Environment Program released a report ahead of the upcoming international climate meetings in Lima, Peru that finds global carbon neutrality should be attained by mid-to-late century. “Countries are giving increasing attention to where they realistically need to be by 2025, 2030 and beyond in order to limit a global temperature rise to below 2°C. This fifth Emissions Gap Report underlines that carbon neutrality–and eventually net zero or what some term climate neutrality–will be required so that what cumulative emissions are left are safely absorbed by the globe’s natural infrastructure such as forests and soils,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP. [UNEP]

The EPA finalized a methane emissions reporting rule for data submitted to its Greenhouse-gas Reporting Program. It will become effective on Jan. 1, 2015. “An EPA spokeswoman said the proposed rule reflects the oil and gas industry’s rapid growth and changes. It would require new data to be reported for onshore gathering and boosting activities, onshore gas transmission pipelines, and completions and workovers of oil wells which are hydraulically fractured, she said on Nov. 16 in response to an OGJ inquiry.” [Oil & Gas Journal]

Following last week’s announcement that China plans for its greenhouse gas emissions to peak by 2030, the government said yesterday that it plans to put a cap on coal consumption by 2020. “The State Council, China’s cabinet, released details late Wednesday of an energy strategy that includes capping coal consumption at 4.2 billion tons in 2020 and having coal be no more than 62 percent of the primary energy mix by that year.” [New York Times]