Methane Matters: Tackling Methane Emissions – Now And In The Future

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG), around 80 times more powerful than carbon-dioxide (CO₂) over a 20-year period, and is responsible for a third of the global warming experienced to date.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states that global methane emissions must be reduced by 34% below 2019 levels, by 2030, to meet the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement and prevent climate tipping points from irreversibly changing the planet’s climate system. The UN Environment Programme’s Global Methane Assessment further found that methane emissions must be reduced by 45% by 2030, compared to 2020 levels.

More than half of global methane emissions are anthropogenic, produced primarily by the agriculture sector (animal husbandry, land use), the waste sector (landfills and wastewater) and the energy sector (extraction and transport of fossil fuels). The European Union (EU) has committed to reducing GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030 through the Green Deal. Due to its short atmospheric lifetime (12 years), cutting methane emissions across the agriculture, waste and energy sectors is one of the most critical policy levers to reach that objective.