Researchers lay roadmap for mitigating methane emissions, call for urgent action

New Delhi, Jul 30 (PTI) Methane emissions, which are rising rapidly, need to be tackled immediately, even as the world is focused on addressing carbon dioxide, which primarily drives climate change, according to a study that outlined a roadmap in the direction.

However, despite methane being the second most potent greenhouse gas, only about two per cent of the global climate finance goes towards cutting its emissions, the largest sources of which are agriculture, fossil fuels and decomposition of landfill waste, the researchers noted.

"The world has been rightly focused on carbon dioxide, which is the largest driver of climate change to date," said Drew Shindell from Duke University, lead author of the study published in the journal 'Frontiers in Science'.

"Methane seemed like something we could leave for later, but the world has warmed very rapidly over the past couple of decades, while we've failed to reduce our CO2 emissions. So that leaves us more desperate for ways to reduce the rate of warming rapidly, which methane can do," said Shindell.

The authors called for immediate action, "following the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent from their 2020 level by 2030." Launched at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, held in Glasgow, UK, the GMP includes 158 participant countries as of March 2024.

The authors laid out three critical imperatives for action -- "reduce, coordinate and incentivise" -- which could be achieved by satellite data, reported methane emissions, and knowledge of how various abatement measures interact with market forces.

Foremost, the course needs to be changed and methane emissions be reduced through "stronger policy-led action" targeting all major drivers, along with greatly reducing CO2 emissions rapidly, the authors said.

Secondly, efforts should be coordinated to tackle methane and carbon dioxide emissions, as only cutting carbon dioxide won't stop warming quickly enough, while only cutting methane just delays global heating, they said.

However, the authors added that net zero methane emissions is not the target, owing to abatement challenges for some sources and its short lifetime.

Nevertheless, since methane and CO2 each contribute to warming, slashing methane emissions is important both for its own sake to ensure that trajectories consistent with the 1.5 degrees Celsius- or 2 degrees Celsius-temperature goals of Paris Agreement are feasible and for removing carbon dioxide from the air, the scientists said.

Thirdly, we need to incentivise and enforce methane abatement, they said.

"We show that both technological abatement options and systemic and behavioral choices must be addressed to reduce methane emissions," the authors wrote.

Citing examples of India and China (both non-GMP countries), the study authors said mitigating methane emissions in the fossil sector is both large and low in cost, as are reductions in landfill methane in India.

The results suggested that the two non-GMP countries have the potential to achieve major methane reductions with limited financial burdens, they said.

With every tonne of methane emitted to be estimated to cause USD 470-1700 in damage, the authors described addressing these emissions as a "life-saving, cost-effective measure." If the human health-damaging effects of methane emissions on air pollution are considered, the true cost could be up to USD 7,000 per tonne, they said.

"The most important mitigations are the (options available) across all sectors that aren't too expensive, because we really need to do everything to reach climate targets such as 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius warming," Shindell said.

"Controlling methane from only one sector wouldn't be enough. We need a broad portfolio of actions," Shindell said, adding that the benefits of methane mitigation nearly always outweighed the net costs. PTI KRS RPA