Landfills are "super emitters" of powerful greenhouse gas methane, satellite data finds

Bengaluru, India — Landfills are releasing a significant amount of planet-warming methane into the atmosphere from the decomposition of waste, a study suggests.

Scientists used satellite data from four major cities worldwide - Delhi and Mumbai in India, Lahore in Pakistan and Buenos Aires in Argentina - and found that city-level emissions in 2018 and 2019 were 1.4 to 2.6 times higher than earlier estimates.

The study, published in Science Advances on Wednesday, is aimed at helping local governments carry out targeted efforts to limit global warming by pinpointing specific sites of major concern.