Credit: CC0 Public Domain
The fight against methane emissions, a significant contributor to climate change, is far from over. Despite the commitment of more than 150 nations to reduce methane emissions by 30% in the next decade, recent research indicates that global methane emissions have actually increased at an alarming rate over the past five years.
This concerning trend is highlighted in a perspective article published on September 10th in Environmental Research Letters, along with data from Earth System Science Data. Both studies are part of the Global Carbon Project led by Stanford University’s Rob Jackson, which monitors greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Current levels of atmospheric methane are now more than 2.6 times higher than pre-industrial levels—the highest they’ve been in at least 800,000 years. If this trajectory continues, global warming could exceed 3 degrees Celsius or 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of this century.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that originates from natural sources like wetlands and human activities such as agriculture, fossil fuel use, and landfills. Despite its short lifespan compared to carbon dioxide, methane has a much greater impact on warming the atmosphere in the short term.
Recent estimates show that total annual methane emissions have increased by 20% or 61 million tons over the past two decades due to various factors including coal mining, oil and gas operations, livestock farming, and organic waste decomposition in landfills.
2024-09-10 01:15:02
Link from phys.org