Methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more harmful than carbon dioxide, does not go unnoticed by politicians and governments. According to a study by Queen Mary University of London, only 13% of global emissions of this gas are regulated.
Given these figures, the authors of the study, whose findings are published this Friday in the journal ‘One Earth’, call on policy makers to take this serious problem seriously and control the levels of methane that are fueling global warming. They say.
The Paris Agreement states that to limit climate warming to 1.5 °C, methane emissions must be cut by at least 40–45%, a “feat” the authors believe is possible. If governments measure up.” emissions more precisely and adopt stricter policies.”
“The need for comprehensive and targeted methane mitigation strategies is becoming more apparent by the day. But methane emissions are rising faster than at any time since the 1980s,” said the Environmental Defense Fund Europe, the European University Institute and Queen Mary. warn environmental policy experts Maria Olczak, Andris Piebalgs and Paul Balcombe, respectively, from the University of London.
To determine the effectiveness of existing restrictions on methane emissions, the team examined 281 policies in the highest methane-producing sectors, such as energy, waste and agriculture.
Thus, they found that the number of methane policies varied greatly from region to region and that those in place were not strict enough, mainly because they were based on inaccurate data.
And it is that often, the estimates of methane emissions that politicians handle come from data sets that are not open to the public or from figures that vary greatly depending on the method used to measure the amount of this gas. There are
“To seize the significant methane emissions reduction opportunities, a coherent approach to accurate identification, quantification and verification of sources of methane emissions, as well as greater policy coverage and stringency, is needed,” the study warns.
A cheap and effective solution
According to the Global Methane Assessment, reducing man-made methane emissions is one of the cheapest ways to slow climate change and improve air quality.
But reducing those emissions requires a global effort, with swift action at national and regional levels to meet climate goals.
“Effective methane mitigation requires greater social support and political consensus. However, methane reduction continues to be seen as an option, not as a need to complement current decarbonization efforts that rely largely on CO2. are focused,” the authors note.
He concluded, “The upcoming COP28 climate conference in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), which will assess collective progress towards the Paris Agreement goals for the first time, will provide an enormous opportunity for change.”
