22.11.2022
Methane emissions reduction agreement signed by more than 150 countries
Photo by: Daniel Moqvist / Unsplash
More than 150 countries signed a global agreement to reduce methane emissions at the UN climate conference COP27, an increase of around 50 countries from last year’s COP26 summit in Glasgow. The agreement contains a commitment by nations to reduce methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 from 2020 levels.
The 50 signatories to the global methane pledge have already submitted detailed strategies to reduce gas emissions.
Methane emissions are a major contributor to the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Scientists estimate that they are responsible for about 30% of global warming. Without reducing methane emissions, it is therefore difficult to keep global temperature rise within 1.5 degrees, as required by the Paris Agreement.
Most methane emissions come from human activities, primarily agriculture and livestock, but also from the oil and gas industry, whose share in anthropogenic methane emissions is variously estimated at between 20% and 30%.
In 2021, the atmospheric levels of all three major greenhouse gases warming the planet — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — reached record levels. The increase in atmospheric concentration of methane, meanwhile, was the highest on record.
China and India, the two largest sources of methane emissions, as well as Russia, have not joined the agreement, but this is not an indication of inaction. Currently 95% of countries have included methane in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) or are implementing their own emission reduction programmes.
Cover photo: Chris LeBoutillier / Unsplash
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