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The federal government has finalized a new suite of methane regulations aimed at sharply reducing emissions from Canada’s oil and gas sector and large landfills, positioning methane abatement as a central pillar of the country’s climate strategy over the next decade.
Published in December 2025, The Enhanced Methane Regulations follow years of consultation with provinces, industry, Indigenous groups, workers and experts, and aim to strengthen Canada’s existing 2018 methane rules for the onshore oil and gas sector. The regulations apply to upstream production, processing and transmission facilities, including well sites, centralized production sites, gas plants and pipelines, but do not cover offshore operations or downstream facilities.
Environment and Climate Change Canada says the new rules are designed to deliver deeper emissions cuts while providing industry with greater flexibility in how reductions are achieved. Operators will be able to comply either by following prescribed work practices that largely prohibit venting and require regular leak detection and repair, or by adopting customized methane control approaches that meet facility-level methane intensity thresholds aligned with leading international certification standards. The latter pathway, according to the new requirements, is contingent on robust monitoring, including the use of advanced measurement technologies such as continuous monitoring systems.
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The new regulations will be phased in beginning January 1, 2028, and are expected to drive widespread adoption of new methane detection and abatement technologies. Federal analysis suggests the measures will deliver cumulative emissions reductions of 304 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between 2028 and 2040, at an average cost of $48 per tonne — making methane abatement one of the lowest-cost opportunities for climate action.
The federal government maintains the new rules will not increase costs for households or small businesses, noting that oil and gas prices are set largely by global and regional markets. Macroeconomic analysis also indicates continued growth in Canada’s oil and gas sector under the regulations, with production projected to rise more than 17% from 2019 to 2030. The estimated impact on overall production between 2025 and 2035 is 0.2%, with a GDP impact of just 0.01% over the same period.
Beyond emissions reductions, the regulations are expected to conserve significant volumes of natural gas that would otherwise be lost to the atmosphere. The government estimates the rules will enable the recovery of roughly 705 petajoules of gas between 2028 and 2040 — valued at about $2 billion — enough energy to heat more than 11 million Canadian homes for a year.
The government says the rules will also support job creation and clean-technology investment, bolstering more than 130 methane abatement companies across the country. An independent estimate suggests compliance-related activity could support approximately 34,000 jobs between 2027 and 2040. As part of the announcement, Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin also unveiled nearly $16 million in new federal funding to support methane-reduction technologies.
Canada has already signed equivalency agreements on methane with British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, allowing provincial rules to stand in for federal regulations where outcomes are equivalent. Ottawa says it will continue discussions with interested jurisdictions, including Alberta, under a memorandum of understanding signed in November 2025.
Landfills
Alongside the oil and gas rules, the federal government also finalized new Landfill Methane Regulations targeting emissions from large privately and municipally owned landfills that receive municipal solid waste. Methane from landfills is generated over decades as organic materials such as food scraps, yard waste and paper decompose, making it a persistent and growing source of emissions.
The landfill regulations take a performance-based approach, setting limits on surface methane concentrations and requiring regular monitoring to identify and repair leaks. Covered landfills will be required to capture methane and either flare it, or use it to produce low-carbon energy, rather than venting it to the atmosphere.
The rules apply to landfills that have accepted waste since 2010 and exceed specified waste-in-place or annual disposal thresholds, while exempting sites that closed before 2010 and landfills that accept only non-biodegradable, hazardous, forestry, or construction and demolition waste. Compliance timelines vary based on a site’s estimated methane generation and whether gas collection systems are already in place, with requirements beginning as early as 2028 for the largest emitters.
