CoP28 turns attention to potent methane emissions

Subject: Environment

Section: Climate change

Context:

The powerful heat-trapping emissions, namely methane, are likely to be discussed at the crucial CoP28 meeting in Dubai.

About Methane:

It is the second largest contributor to climate change, accounting for around 16% of the warming effect.
Methane remains in the atmosphere for only about 10 years, but Its warming effect is 28 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year timescale.
Potent but relatively short-lived methane is a key target for countries wanting to slash emissions quickly and slow climate change.
Large amounts of methane are simply leaking into the atmosphere from fossil fuel infrastructure.
Methane concentrations currently is over two-and-a-half times greater than pre-industrial levels.
Atmospheric methane (CH4) occurs abundantly in nature as the primary component of natural gas.

Sources:

Around 60% of methane emissions are linked to human activity and the rest are from wastelands.
Agriculture is the biggest emitter, responsible for roughly a quarter of emissions. Most of that is from livestock (cows and sheep release methane during digestion and in their manure) and rice cultivation, where flooded fields create ideal conditions for methane-emitting bacteria.
The energy sector – coal, oil, and gas – is the second largest source of human-caused methane emissions. Methane leaks from energy infrastructure, such as gas pipelines, and from deliberate releases during maintenance.
Discarded household waste also releases large quantities of methane when it decomposes, if left to rot in landfills.

Curbing methane emissions:

Rapid cuts in methane emissions linked to the fossil fuel sector could prevent up to 0.1 degrees Celsius of warming by mid-century.
Reduction can be achieved by repairing leaky infrastructure and eliminating routine flaring and venting during maintenance.
In agriculture, it’s possible to modify animal diets by adding a compound to improve their health.
For rice fields, changes to water management can be made.

Top methane emitting countries:

The world’s five largest methane emitters (from all sources) are China, India, the United States, Russia and Brazil.
Together, they are responsible for close to half of all methane emissions globally.
Of these, only the United States and Brazil are part of the Global Methane Pledge.
Looking only at energy-related emissions, the five largest emitting countries are China, Russia, the United States, Iran and India.