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#Methane emissions from #FossilFuels, #farms & #landfills will make it impossible for the world to maintain a safe #climate, scientists say.
#Emissions of methane — one of the most potent #GreenhouseGases — are rising at the fastest rate in recorded history, scientists said Tues, defying global pledges to limit the gas & putting the #Earth on a path toward perilous #temperature rise.
#ClimateCrisis #GlobalWarming #ExtremeWeather #science
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/09/10/methane-emissions-increase-climate/
New research from the Global #Carbon Project — an international coalition of scientists that seeks to quantify #planet-warming emissions — finds that #methane levels in the atmosphere are tracking those projected by the worst-case #climate scenarios. Because methane traps about 30X more #heat than #CarbonDioxide over a 100-yr time frame, the accelerating #emissions will make it nearly impossible for the world to meet its climate goals, the authors warned.
“These extra methane emissions bring the temperature thresholds ever closer,” said Rob Jackson, a Stanford #climate scientist & chair of the Global #Carbon Project. “Warming that was once inconceivable is now perhaps likely.”
The project’s “Global Methane Budget” report, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, finds that human-caused #methane #emissions grew as much as 20% 2000—2020 & now account for at least ⅓ of total annual releases.
The largest growth came from expanding #landfills, booming #livestock production, increased #coal mining & surging consumption of #NaturalGas.
The report also uncovered worrying evidence that #human disruptions have boosted the amount of #methane released by #lakes, #marshes & other ecosystems.
Since 2021, >150 countries have pledged to slash #emissions of #methane by 30% by the end of this decade. But in a second, peer-reviewed study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, Global Carbon Project researchers found little evidence that the world is making good on those promises.
Satellite measurements from more recent yrs revealed #methane emissions grew an additional 5% 2020–2023, w/the biggest increases in #China, #SouthernAsia & the #MiddleEast. Among major emitters, the study revealed, only the #EU has meaningfully curbed methane #emissions in the last 2 decades.