OGMP 2.0 is the only measurement-based international methane reporting framework. The five levels, the jump that costs real money, and the six ways Gold Standard is lost.
OGMP 2.0 has stopped being a voluntary badge and started being market access. With the European Commission naming OGMP 2.0 Level 5 plus verification as a route to import equivalence from 1 January 2027, the framework’s reporting levels have become a commercial specification rather than an ambition ladder.
Which makes it worth understanding what the levels actually are.
What OGMP 2.0 is
The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 is run by UNEP through the International Methane Emissions Observatory. It is the only measurement-based international methane reporting framework for the sector.
Reporting is technology neutral. OGMP specifies the standard of evidence required, not the instrument you use to produce it. That matters, because it means the framework does not lock a member into a particular vendor or technique.
The five levels
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1 | Venture or asset reporting: a single consolidated emissions number |
| 2 | By emissions category, using generic industry emission factors |
| 3 | Generic emission factors applied at detailed source type level |
| 4 | Detailed source type using company-specific methods and measurement |
| 5 | Level 4 reconciled against independent site-level measurement |
The jump that costs money is 3 to 4
Levels 1 to 3 are desk exercises. You take published emission factors, apply them to your equipment counts and throughput, and produce a number. No one goes into the field. A competent team can produce Level 3 from existing records.
Level 4 requires you to measure your own sources. Company-specific methods means exactly that: a component-level campaign across the asset, quantifying what is actually emitting rather than what the industry average says should be.
Level 5 requires independent measurement of the whole site, then a statistical reconciliation of that top-down figure against the bottom-up Level 4 inventory, including uncertainty analysis on both. It is where most members stall, and the reconciliation is the part most programmes underestimate. Two numbers that disagree are not a finding; they are a starting point.
We go through what each of those physically involves in what methane measurement actually requires.
The timeline after joining
| When | What is required |
|---|---|
| Year 0 | Company joins |
| Year 1 | First report submitted by 31 May, on previous calendar year data |
| Year 3 | Gold Standard Reporting when all material operated assets report at Level 4 or 5 |
| Year 5 | Gold Standard Reporting when all material non-operated assets report at Level 4 or 5 |
31 May is the annual reporting deadline, every year, covering the prior calendar year, together with an optionally revised implementation plan.
Before year 3, a member can hold Gold Standard Pathway, a recognised status available in year one on the strength of a credible plan and a target. For a producer facing the EU’s January 2027 date, that is the achievable near-term position, and we cover it separately in OGMP 2.0 Gold Standard Pathway.
How Gold Standard is lost
Worth knowing, because it defines what sustaining the status actually demands:
- Reporting is not submitted
- No corporate methane reduction target in the implementation plan
- The credible path set out in the plan is not met
- Operated assets fail to reach Level 4 or 5 within three years
- Non-operated assets fail to reach Level 4 or 5 within five years
- The company stops showing progress toward Level 5 in annual reporting
Note how many of those are failures of programme management rather than engineering. Losing the status rarely happens because a measurement campaign failed technically. It happens because reporting slipped, or the plan was never revised when circumstances changed.
The non-operated joint venture problem
A member cannot compel a joint venture it does not operate. OGMP therefore asks for “reasonable and demonstrable efforts”, and a dedicated Task Force was convened to define what that means.
That definition now exists: OGMP published an Asset One Pager for non-operated joint ventures in February 2026. Anyone working from guidance written before that date is working from an open question that has since been answered.
This matters disproportionately in the Gulf and in Iraq, where field structures are dense with joint ventures between national and international oil companies. For an international operator that is an OGMP member, its non-operated regional stakes are frequently the assets dragging on its year-five clock.
Governance, briefly
A Steering Group of all member companies plus non-company members including the European Commission, EDF, the Clean Air Task Force and UNEP, meeting at least twice a year. Technical Task Forces produce the guidance. Two Mirror Groups, upstream and mid/downstream, meet more frequently and are companies only.
A note on currency
The OGMP 2.0 Starters Guide dates from 9 April 2025 and remains current, as do the Reporting Framework and associated core documents. But ten further documents have been published since, four of them in 2026, including the Level 5 Assessment in March 2026, the non-operated joint venture one pager in February 2026, and an Aligned MRV Blueprint in November 2025.
If you are relying on the Starters Guide alone, you are working from a framework that has grown around it. Check the resources library before quoting a requirement.
How ESGweise helps
We take operators through OGMP 2.0 implementation: inventory design, source categorisation, data architecture, reporting and the programme management that keeps a Gold Standard from lapsing. Physical measurement is delivered with specialist partners, and verification sits with an independent body. See our carbon and sustainability reporting services, and our oil and gas practice.
To scope an OGMP 2.0 programme, talk to us.
Related guides
Frequently asked questions
What is OGMP 2.0?
The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, run by the United Nations Environment Programme through its International Methane Emissions Observatory. It is the only measurement-based international methane reporting framework for the sector, and the European Commission points to it as the practical route to demonstrating the equivalence its import regime requires. Reporting is technology neutral: OGMP specifies the standard of evidence, not the instrument.
What are the five OGMP 2.0 levels?
Level 1 is a single consolidated emissions number for a venture or asset. Level 2 reports by emissions category using generic industry emission factors. Level 3 applies generic factors at detailed source type level. Level 4 reports detailed source types using company-specific methods and measurement. Level 5 reconciles the Level 4 inventory against independent site-level measurement.
Which level is the difficult one?
The jump from Level 3 to Level 4. Levels 1 to 3 are desk exercises built on published emission factors and can be produced without going into the field. Level 4 requires quantifying your own sources with company-specific methods, which means a measurement campaign. Level 5 adds independent whole-site measurement and a statistical reconciliation, and is where most members stall.
When does a member reach Gold Standard Reporting?
At year 3 when all material operated assets report at Level 4 or 5, and at year 5 when all material non-operated assets do. Before that, a member can hold Gold Standard Pathway by submitting a compliant report, a granular per-asset implementation plan and a methane reduction target.