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“There’s probably nothing we can do that has a greater impact on shaving the hottest temperatures over the next few decades than removing methane,” he says. Rob Jackson, a researcher at Stanford and co-author of both studies.
Methane is relatively scarce: carbon dioxide is about 200 times denser in the atmosphere. However, according to a recent study, it has contributed about 30% of total global warming, or about 0.5 ˚C, to date. report From the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Although its lifespan in the atmosphere is only 10 years, it is a greenhouse gas approximately 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide in short periods of time.
“The methane will go, but in the meantime it will cause problems,” he says. Vaishali Naik, an atmospheric scientist for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Because of its short lifespan, atmospheric levels would drop rapidly if methane emissions were cut today. soon UN Environment Program methane report As Naik co-authored, researchers today estimate that reducing methane emissions by 45% could reduce warming by 0.28˚C by mid-century and keep the world below the 1.5˚C warming target below pre-industrial levels as defined in the Paris agreement. is doing.
Naik says about two-thirds of these cuts can be achieved using ready-made solutions. This includes closing leaky natural gas wells and reducing reliance on coal mines, which release free methane stored below the earth’s surface, which is produced when plant matter converts to coal. It’s probably cheaper and easier to reduce some emissions than scale up cleaning technology, he says.
But to keep warming below 1.5 ˚C, methane emissions from sectors such as agriculture would also need to be reduced – which may be more difficult as the population grows.
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