Methane seeps from waste at a dumping zone in Belgharia, India Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket by way of Getty Pictures
Greater than 100 international locations, together with the US, Japan and Canada, have pledged to considerably reduce emissions of methane, a short-lived however highly effective greenhouse fuel.
The International Methane Pledge introduced in the present day at COP26 in Glasgow, UK, commits signatories to lowering their general emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, in contrast with 2020 ranges. The US authorities additionally printed an in depth blueprint of the way it intends to satisfy the objective.
The brand new initiative emphasises making cuts by tackling methane leaking from oil and fuel wells, pipelines and different fossil gas infrastructure. Important quantities of the fuel additionally come from different sources, corresponding to livestock farming and decaying waste in landfill websites.
Whereas worldwide local weather summits normally focus totally on carbon dioxide, the dominant driver of the 1.1°C of world warming that has occurred since pre-industrial ranges, methane is accountable for about 30 per cent of world warming so far, and atmospheric concentrations of the fuel have surged since 2007, sparking concern from scientists.
“Chopping again on methane emissions is without doubt one of the best issues we will do to cut back near-term world warming and hold to 1.5°C,” stated Ursula von der Leyen, the European Fee president, referring to the 2015 Paris Settlement’s hardest local weather objective.
The voluntary pledge is backed by 15 of the world’s greatest methane emitters together with the European Union, Indonesia and Iraq. In complete, 105 international locations have signed up and John Kerry, the US president’s particular envoy on local weather, stated he expects the quantity to develop.
Nevertheless, there are some important omissions. Lacking from the pledge are China, India and Russia, with the latter infamous for leaky fossil gas infrastructure. It additionally doesn’t embody Australia, the place main plumes of methane from coal mines have been recognized.
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau introduced his nation would reduce methane emissions from its sizeable oil and fuel business by 75 per cent by 2030. That’s how briskly the Worldwide Power Company says methane emissions will must be reduce if the world is to achieve web zero by mid-century.
The pledge was hailed as “game-changing” by US president Joe Biden, who has labored with the European Union to guide the initiative. “One of the crucial essential issues we will do to maintain 1.5°C in attain is cut back our methane emissions,” he stated. Biden stated he would sort out US methane emissions utilizing rules from the US Environmental Safety Company and the Division for Transportation, which has duty for some fuel pipelines.
Observers stated the brand new effort on methane marked essential progress on curbing local weather change. In a press release, Jim Watson at College School London stated: “This appears to be like like a big step ahead on progress to sort out a extremely potent greenhouse fuel at COP26.”
Myles Allen of the College of Oxford stated the dedication was welcome, but it surely was essential to keep in mind CO2’s far larger contribution to local weather change. “My solely fear is that folks have to grasp that methane just isn’t an alternative to lowering CO2,” he says.
He notes that even essentially the most formidable plans for slicing methane emissions within the quick time period will solely keep away from round 0.1 to 0.2°C of world warming by 2050. Against this, present CO2 ranges are driving about 0.2°C of warming per decade. “Until we get CO2 below management, motion on methane is type of moot. It worries me that it’s being touted as the nice success of COP26,” says Allen.
One key technological advance in recent times has been the launch of satellites, corresponding to these by Canadian agency GHGSat, that may pinpoint methane leaks with far larger accuracy than earlier than. The Environmental Protection Fund, a US non-profit organisation, is because of launch its personal methane-monitoring satellite tv for pc subsequent yr.
International methane emissions from the oil and fuel industries stood at 70 million tonnes final yr, roughly equal to all of the EU’s annual CO2 emissions.
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