In the fight against global warming, CO2 is enemy number one, but not the only one. Methane, ignored for a long time, is a gas with a heating power 80 times higher than that of carbon dioxide and it would be easier and faster to act against it. However, its emissions are reaching record levels. Tracking down the “super emitters” of methane, taxing livestock, all are good ways to mitigate their effects.
CH4, better known as methane, is the second most important greenhouse gas. Although their emissions are much lower than those of CO2, they are much more dangerous. Today, its concentration in the atmosphere is maximum. In 2021, methane emissions took an “unprecedented jump”, reaching a record level, as revealed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in a report published on Wednesday, October 26. These figures, according to its general secretary, Petteri Taalas, demonstrate “once again the enormous challenge -and the vital need- to act urgently to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the further increase in global temperature in the future. “.
An increase in methane emissions is not good news, as this super-polluting gas alone is responsible for 30% of global warming.
Although CO2 accounts for nearly two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, the methane problem is “at least as important as the CO2 problem,” says Euan Nisbet, a researcher at London’s Royal Holloway University and one of the leading experts on the climate impact of methane. In fact, this gas has a much higher heating power than carbon dioxide. “Compared to CO2, molecule by molecule, methane is much more damaging to the climate,” warns this expert, since a particle of this gas traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide for twenty years.
For the WMO, the reason for this exceptional increase in methane levels compared to 2020 “is not clear, but appears to be the result of both biological and human-induced processes.”
For Euan Nisbet, “the extreme and unexpected increase in atmospheric methane in the last two years is especially worrying” and scientists “are not sure why it is happening.” “The issue is very complex,” continues the British researcher. “We think it’s mostly due to biological causes, like methane emission from wetlands or livestock.”
In search of solutions, sometimes unusual
Some countries are struggling to find solutions to reduce these bio-based methane emissions. In New Zealand, the gas – naturally emitted in the form of farts and burps by the archipelago’s 6.2 million cows and 26 million sheep – is one of the country’s biggest environmental problems.
For this reason, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern decided to legislate and presented on Tuesday, October 11, a plan to introduce a tax on methane emissions from livestock, thus provoking the ire of New Zealand ranchers. A week later, convoys of farm machinery converged on major New Zealand cities to call on the government to drop its plan, now dubbed the “fart tax”, which, if implemented, would be a world first.
But, according to researcher Euan Nisbet, there are simpler measures that could be put in place to significantly reduce methane emissions globally. “What we can do quickly and cheaply would be, for example, stop burning crop residues or reduce methane emissions from landfills by covering them with soil.” Landfills can be a significant source of methane, which is released as a result of decomposition.
Although it is believed that about 40% of the methane released into the atmosphere is of natural origin (livestock, wetlands, etc.), the role of humans in the emission of this gas has long been underestimated, and it is believed that the fossil fuel sector also plays an important role.
50 “super emitters”
A NASA mission has identified about 50 so-called “super emitters” of methane. This is an important and accidental discovery, which the US space agency celebrated on Tuesday. These sites, mostly linked to the fossil fuel sector, are among some of the world’s biggest methane polluters.
Thanks to the EMIT mission, installed on the International Space Station, and its next-generation imaging spectrograph designed to observe Earth, NASA was able to detect methane leaks “among the largest ever seen,” NASA researcher Andrew Thorpe said in a statement. . “What we have found in such a short time already exceeds what we could imagine.”
In Turkmenistan, for example, the instrument identified 12 methane “plumes” coming from oil and gas infrastructure east of the port city of Hazar, some of which extend more than 32 kilometers, and which would release 50,400 kilograms of methane. per hour, according to NASA. In New Mexico (United States), the EMIT detected another plume of about three kilometers in length coming from one of the largest oil fields in the world, which is estimated to produce 18,300 kilograms of methane per hour.
By pinpointing the world’s largest methane leaks, this discovery could lead to a dramatic reduction in methane emissions. “The NASA discovery is extremely useful,” says researcher Euan Nisbet. “The satellite is essential for finding methane leaks in coal mines and gas fields. These leaks cost these ‘super emitters’ money and they sure would like to be put on notice to stop this phenomenon. Reduce these leaks would also help to contain the CO2 they contain,” he adds.
Lowering methane emissions: a crucial challenge for the Paris agreement
Methane is a gas that remains in the atmosphere for much less time than CO2. “While carbon dioxide persists for centuries, methane stays in the atmosphere for about a decade,” says Euan Nisbet, for whom “getting rid of methane could slow global warming in the short term.” It is one of the gases that we can reduce the fastest. The researcher affirms that, if applied, “measures to reduce emissions of human origin would have a rapid impact”.
A reduction in methane emissions would even be crucial to meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement signed in 2015.
The problem is that the two main methane emitting countries in the world have so far not complied with any commitment to reduce this gas.
According to figures cited by the expert Euan Nisbet, China is the largest emitter in the world with some 89 million tons emitted per year, mainly from its coal industry. India emits approximately 32 million tons a year, mainly due to livestock farming, the coal industry and poor waste management. It is followed by the United States and Russia, with 31 and 35 tons of methane released into the atmosphere each year, respectively.
Although the United States has already committed to reducing its emissions of this greenhouse gas at COP 26, “China and India, the largest emitters, can do much more,” says Euan Nisbet.
For this reason, commitments are expected in this area, especially since 10 days before COP 27, the UN warned on Wednesday that the world is still “very far” from the objectives of the Paris Agreement, which limit global warming to 1 .5ºC. According to the organizationcurrent international commitments leave the Earth on a trajectory of 2.6°C of warming.
This article was translated from its original French
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