Tuesday, November 2, nearly 90 countries at COP26 signed a commitment to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, by 2030.
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Fighting against methane emissions is in a way Plan B, so carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions around the world continue to climb. Today, methane is responsible for 25% of global warming and 60% of the releases of this gas come from humans. At the COP26 in Glasgow, nearly 90 countries including the United States and the European Union committed to reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2020.
>> COP26: we explain to you what methane is, the other greenhouse gas that warms the climate
Methane is a very warming gas but it stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time. Cutting off the source is therefore the fastest way to reduce the volume of emissions, and the least expensive to affect the climate. “Anthropogenic methane emissions come from three sectors: energy, agriculture and waste, explains Kim O’Dowd, member of the NGO Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) which works on this subject. But several reports, in particular that of the IPCC, make it clear that the energy sector is the sector where methane reductions are easiest and at the lowest cost for industries. “
Energy accounts for a third of methane emissions. It’s a bit of a double penalty. They come from the exploitation, transport and end of life of fossil fuels which are also mainly responsible for CO2 emissions. And the solution is within reach, according to Kim O’Dowd. “Methane emissions in the energy sector simply come from leaks, she explains. On pipelines, but also on old coal mines which continue to emit methane. And these are things that are easily resolvable. It suffices to detect these leaks and reseal them. It can be done quite quickly. This does not necessarily require cutting the pipeline. These are things that are already done by industries today, but there is no legislation on the subject. So these leaks continue to emit right after being detected. “
The International methane emissions observatory (IMEO) estimates in its latest report that a 50% reduction in methane emissions would reduce warming by a quarter of a degree Celsius within a few decades. But the States’ commitment to COP26 does not set a specific objective for each country. And it does not include the big industrial emitters of China, Russia and Saudi Arabia.