Researchers warn methane emissions ‘rising faster than ever’
Al Jazeera
The largest increases in emissions of the greenhouse gas come from China and Southeast Asia.
Concentrations of methane are rising at an unprecedented pace, jeopardising global climate goals, according to researchers.
The potent greenhouse gas, the second-largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, has increased by 20 percent over the past two decades despite global efforts to curb it, according to a study published by the Global Carbon Project.
In the past five years, methane concentrations have surged faster than “in any period since record-keeping began”, the study said. Increases are being primarily driven by coal mining, oil and gas production and use, cattle and sheep ranching, and decomposing food and organic waste.
In 2020, 41.8 million tonnes of methane entered the atmosphere, double the average amount added yearly in the 2010s, and over six times the average in the previous decade.
“Anthropogenic emissions have continued to increase in almost every other country in the world, with the exception of Europe and Australia, which show a slow declining trend,” Global Carbon Project’s executive director, Pep Canadell, told the AFP news agency.
