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A massive wave of market and societal forces is changing the oil and gas industry. Low commodity prices are driving out weaker players with excessive debt, and forcing those that remain to become leaner and more efficient. As climate change effects worsen and countries move to fulfill their commitments from the Paris climate agreement, public scrutiny of oil and natural gas and their impacts only intensifies.

The question is not will industry change to meet these challenges - it's how. It's about what opportunities can propel industry to come back stronger out of the depths of the commodity slide, as a leaner, cleaner industry standing on firm ground that it can play a meaningful role as societies work to transition to lower-carbon economies.

While natural gas remains a fact of life, and switching from coal to natural gas has helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions, scientific research has demonstrated that potent methane emissions from the oil and gas system are undermining that climate benefit. The latest U.S. inventory shows over 9 million metric tons of oil and gas methane emissions, packing the same climate impact over a 20 year timeframe as over 200 coal-fired power plants. That's a lot of methane no matter how you slice it.

Methane standards like the rule announced today by EPA can aid industry, for three reasons:

1. (Re)build public trust

According to the 2016 Edelman Trust Barometer survey a gauge of public trust in the business world, spanning 33,000 people in 28 countries the energy sector is among the least trusted sectors in the business world, ranked above only financial services and pharmaceuticals. As with any industry, trust can be rebuilt, but it's going to take fresh effort from operators to curb emissions sector-wide, communicated in an open, consistent and verifiable way.

We know that there are some better actors in the oil and gas sector, but performance across the industry varies widely. Consumers only see the bad actors getting headlines, so when leaks or accidents occur, that's all they have to form an opinion about how industry is performing. The EPA methane rule announced today is an important step toward leveling the playing field across the industry and setting a new status quo for responsible production.

There's strong public support for measures like ...