The world is finally focusing on cutting methane emissions, to get some quick relief on climate change.
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Global Methane Pledge - attacking the low-hanging fruit
- The story: More than 100 countries have joined an effort led by the United States and European Union to slash emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels. This is aimed at tackling one of the main causes of climate change.
- Story of methane: Methane is the main greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). It has a higher heat-trapping potential than CO2 but breaks down in the atmosphere faster - meaning that cutting methane emissions can have a rapid impact in reining in global warming.
- The Global Methane Pledge: This pledge, launched at the COP26 summit in Glasgow after being announced in September, now covers countries representing nearly half of global methane emissions and 70% of global GDP. The US President said that together, the world is committing to collectively reduce methane by 30% by 2030. It's a positive for economies, saving companies money, reducing methane leaks, capturing methane to turn it into new revenue streams, as well as creating good paying union jobs for workers.
- Who signed: Among the new signatories was Brazil - one of the world's biggest emitters of methane. The pledge now includes six of the world's 10 biggest methane emitters: the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Mexico. China, Russia, India and Iran, also top-10 methane emitters, have not signed up. Those countries were all included on a list identified as targets to join the pledge.
- Since it was first announced in September with a handful of signatories, the United States and European Union have worked to get the world's biggest methane emitters to join the partnership. Nearly 60 countries signed up only recently, after a final diplomatic push from the United States and EU ahead of the COP26 summit.
- While it is not part of the formal U.N. negotiations, the methane pledge could rank among the most significant outcomes from the COP26 conference, given its potential impact in holding off disastrous climate change.
- What science says: A U.N. report said steep cuts in methane emissions this decade could avoid nearly 0.3 degree Celsius of global warming by the 2040s. Failing to tackle methane, however, would push out of reach the 2015 Paris Agreement's objective to limit the global rise in temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The 30% methane cut, which is not legally binding, would be jointly achieved by the signatories, and cover all sectors. Key sources of methane emissions include leaky oil and gas infrastructure, old coal mines, agriculture and landfill sites.
- If fulfilled, the pledge is likely to have the biggest impact on the energy sector, since analysts say fixing leaky oil and gas infrastructure is the fastest and cheapest way to curb methane emissions.
- The United States is the world's biggest oil and natural gas producer, while the EU is the biggest importer of gas.
- US action: After the departure of Trump, things are looking up. The United States unveiled its own sweeping proposal to crack down on methane emissions with a focus on the oil and gas sector. The main regulation could take effect as soon as 2023 and slash methane from oil and gas operations by 74% from 2005 levels by 2035, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EU and Canada both plan to unveil methane legislation addressing the energy sector later this year.
- Knowledge centre:
- Story of Methane: CH4 is a hydrocarbon that is a primary component of natural gas. Methane is also a greenhouse gas (GHG), so its presence in the atmosphere affects the earth’s temperature and climate system. Methane is emitted from a variety of anthropogenic (human-influenced) and natural sources. Anthropogenic emission sources include landfills, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining, stationary and mobile combustion, wastewater treatment, and certain industrial processes. Methane is the second most abundant anthropogenic GHG after carbon dioxide (CO2), accounting for about 20 percent of global emissions. Methane is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. Over the last two centuries, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled, largely due to human-related activities. Because methane is both a powerful greenhouse gas and short-lived compared to carbon dioxide, achieving significant reductions would have a rapid and significant effect on atmospheric warming potential. China, the United States, Russia, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico are estimated to be responsible for nearly half of all anthropogenic methane emissions.
- Story of carbon dioxide: Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In 2019, CO2 accounted for about 80 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the atmosphere as part of the Earth's carbon cycle (the natural circulation of carbon among the atmosphere, oceans, soil, plants, and animals). Human activities are altering the carbon cycle–both by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere, and by influencing the ability of natural sinks, like forests and soils, to remove and store CO2 from the atmosphere. While CO2 emissions come from a variety of natural sources, human-related emissions are responsible for the increase that has occurred in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.
- EXAM QUESTIONS: (1) Explain why it took the world so long to realise the importance of focusing on methane. (2) Compare and contrast the global warming potential of CH4 and CO2.
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