Methane and Short-Lived Pollutants
Why reducing methane emissions is the fastest way to slow near-term warming, and how the Global Methane Pledge is changing climate diplomacy.
The Other Greenhouse Gas
Carbon dioxide gets most of the attention, but methane is responsible for roughly 30 percent of global warming since pre-industrial times. Methane is over 80 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas over a 20-year period, though it breaks down in the atmosphere much faster, persisting for about 12 years compared to CO2's centuries. This short atmospheric lifetime makes methane reduction the fastest lever available to slow near-term warming.
The largest sources of methane are agriculture (especially livestock and rice paddies), fossil fuel production (leaks from oil and gas infrastructure), and waste (landfills and wastewater). The oil and gas sector is particularly significant because much of its methane comes from leaks and intentional venting that are technically and economically fixable. Satellite monitoring has revealed that methane emissions from fossil fuel operations are far higher than previously reported.
