Open AWE Magazine menu
Subscribe Login

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Press Release / Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Air Quality
  • Chromatography
  • Construction
  • Climate Change
  • Emissions
  • Environmental & Monitoring Technology
  • Gas Detection
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Humidity & Temperature
  • Laboratory Testing
  • Land Remediation
  • Marine Pollution
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Regulations & Legislations
  • Sludge and Biosolids
  • Soil Analysis
  • Spectroscopy
  • Weather Monitoring
  • Water Analysis
  • Water Monitoring

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
HSI White logo
Open AWE Magazine menu
Subscribe

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Press Release / Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Air Quality
  • Chromatography
  • Construction
  • Climate Change
  • Emissions
  • Environmental & Monitoring Technology
  • Gas Detection
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Humidity & Temperature
  • Laboratory Testing
  • Land Remediation
  • Marine Pollution
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Regulations & Legislations
  • Sludge and Biosolids
  • Soil Analysis
  • Spectroscopy
  • Weather Monitoring
  • Water Analysis
  • Water Monitoring

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

CATEGORIES

  • Heat and Flame
  • Press Release|Gas Detection
  • Article
  • Press Release
  • Air Quality
  • Chromatography
  • Construction
  • Climate Change
  • Emissions
  • Environmental & Monitoring Technology
  • Gas Detection
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Humidity & Temperature
  • Laboratory Testing
  • Land Remediation
  • Marine Pollution
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Regulations & Legislations
  • Sludge and Biosolids
  • Soil Analysis
  • Spectroscopy
  • Weather Monitoring
  • Water Analysis
  • Water Monitoring
  • Wellbeing at work

Press Release

Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

By The Conversation

| Read Bio

Published: March 21st, 2022

Share this article

Methane recently reached 1,900 parts per billion (ppb) of Earth’s atmosphere according to measurements taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US. This compares with about 700 ppb before the industrial revolution.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but lasts around nine years in the air. Including the knock-on effects it has on other gases, its total global warming impact since 1750 is roughly half that of CO₂.

After rising sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, atmospheric methane then stabilised. Growth resumed in 2007 and has accelerated in recent years – the sharpest rise on record happened in 2020. This was not expected when world leaders signed the 2015 Paris Agreement. Methane is becoming the largest discrepancy from emissions trajectories necessary for meeting the agreement’s target.

So what’s behind the recent surge – and is there a way to reverse it?

Where Methane Comes From

About 600 million tonnes of methane are released into the atmosphere each year. Estimates suggest two-fifths of these emissions come from natural sources, mainly rotting vegetation in swamps. The remaining three-fifths of emissions come from sources tied to human activity.

Emissions from the fossil fuel industry are well over 100 million tonnes a year and grew rapidly in the 1980s. Natural gas, which in the UK heats homes and generates roughly half of electricity, is mainly methane. Gas industry leaks are widespread at wells and pipelines and from distribution pipes under streets and home boilers. The coal industry was responsible for up to one-third of fossil fuel emissions between 2000 and 2017 via ventilation shafts in mines and during the transportation and crushing of coal for power stations.

Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

Agriculture, producing about 150 million tonnes a year, is the largest overall source. As are urban landfills and sewage systems, contributing about 70 million tonnes annually.

Scientists can identify sources of methane by studying the proportion of carbon-12 to carbon-13 in the atmosphere. These different forms of carbon – chemically similar but with different masses – are known as isotopes. Biogenic methane, made by microbes in rotting vegetation or in cow stomachs, is relatively rich in carbon-12, while methane from fossil fuels and fires has comparatively more carbon-13.

For two centuries, rapidly expanding gas, coal and oil industries steadily drove atmospheric methane richer in carbon-13. Since 2007, that trend has reversed, and the proportion of carbon-13 in atmospheric methane has decreased. Although fossil fuel emissions may still be growing, soaring methane emissions are now primarily the result of faster-growing biogenic sources.

Why are Biogenic Emissions Growing?

Global monitoring shows that in many years since 2007, methane’s growth in the atmosphere has been led from sources in the tropics and sub-tropics. In some years, the high northern latitudes have also been important contributors.

From tropical swamps in the Amazon, Nile and Congo basins to tundra in Russia and muskeg bogs in Canada, wetlands emit roughly 200 million tonnes of methane a year. As global temperatures increase, the rate at which wetlands generate and decompose biomass grows and these environments release more methane. Methane emissions accelerate climate change and climate change causes the release of more methane – a positive feedback of warming feeding more warming.

The microbes in the stomachs of ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, goats and camels are similar to wetland microbes. In effect, cows are walking wetlands. Ruminants produce nearly as much methane as fossil fuel emissions, roughly 115 million tonnes of annually. Globally, about two-thirds of farmland is animal pasture.

While emissions from landfills have been reduced in many countries in Europe, western Europe emits a lot of methane from biodigesters which convert urban food and garden waste to fertiliser. In Africa and India, expanding cities are creating new landfills while rural areas burn vast quantities of crop waste and grass, causing widespread air pollution, but there is little research on their emissions.

Mopping up Methane

Methane’s short lifetime means that cutting emissions quickly reduces the greenhouse impact. Gas leaks are obvious targets, both at wells and in leaky street pipes. Ending the coal industry is an urgent global priority, not just to cut methane but also CO₂ and air pollution.

In the short-term, removing methane from coal mine air ventilation and cattle barns can be done as easily as certain pollutants are removed from car exhausts. Emissions from biodigesters will need stricter government regulation.

Reducing emissions in tropical nations means ending crop waste burning. Landfills are likely to be fast-growing sources of both methane and pollution too, yet emissions can be cut by covering landfills with soil.

Growing agricultural emissions are linked to rapid human population growth and the increasing global demand for a meat-rich diet. Population growth is slowed by improving access to education among women and girls.

Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

Methane hitting 1,900 ppb is a fire alarm. We cannot stop natural wetland emissions. But human-caused emissions can be reduced, quickly. At COP26 in Glasgow – the most recent UN climate change summit in November 2021 – more than 100 nations signed the Global Methane Pledge, promising to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030.

Getting started is simple: plug gas leaks, cover landfills, halt crop waste burning and remove methane from coal mine ventilation. All these actions will have wider benefits such as reducing air pollution, but large emitters, including China, India, Russia, Qatar and Australia, did not join. Absentee nations ultimately harm themselves and should sign the pledge.

Share this article

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Conversation

The Conversation is an independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community and delivered direct to the public.

Visit Website

POPULAR POSTS BY The Conversation

UN Sustainable Development Goals Failing To Have Meaningful Impact

Press Release

UN Sustainable Development Goals Failing To Have Meaningful Impact

Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

Press Release

Methane in the Atmosphere is at an All-Time High – Here’s What it Means for Climate Change

Bitcoin Isn’t Getting Greener

Press Release

Bitcoin Isn’t Getting Greener

Article

Net Zero: Despite the Greenwash, it’s Vital for Tackling Climate Change

Press Release

Climate Crisis: Keeping Hope of 1.5°C limit Alive is Vital to Spurring Global Action

Air Quality

Air Pollution May Contribute to Alzheimer’s and Dementia Risk

Get email updates

Sign up for the AWE newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email and receive the latest environmental monitoring product information and newsletter emails from AWE - Monitoring and Analysing the Impact of Industry on the Environment

"*" indicates required fields

Country
*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Press Release

Blackline Safety and NevadaNano Reach Milestone in Deployment of Industry-First Sensors

Press Release

The Benefits of Using Refurbished Parts in Your Lab

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

AWE on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/AWEIMagazine/

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

AWE on Twitter

Avatar AWE International Magazine @aweimagazine ·
25 Jan

Soil is a vital component of natural capital, hosting rich biodiversity and providing critical ecosystem services, such as food production, water purification and carbon storage.

Read more from the @EUEnvironment here:
https://www.aweimagazine.com/press-release/monitoring-soil-threats-in-europe/

#aweinternational #EEA #soil

Reply on Twitter 1618284319327543296 Retweet on Twitter 1618284319327543296 Like on Twitter 1618284319327543296 Twitter 1618284319327543296

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE

Stay up to date with our newsletter

    • Keep up-to-date with Europe’s largest audited environmental monitoring magazine

 

    • Delivering the latest information on new products and emerging technologies related to industrial environmental monitoring.

 

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe

SUBSCRIBE TO AWE MAGAZINE

5 reasons to subscribe to our digital and print package

  • Stay up to date from anywhere in the world, with instant access to the latest issue straight from your phone, tablet or laptop.
  • Trust that you’re getting the best content from our range of internationally accredited authors.
  • Get full access to our archives and see how the environmental monitoring landscape has evolved with us over the years.
  • Enjoy our monthly newsletter curated with up-to-the-minute news and a selection of editor’s top picks.
  • Hot off the press and straight to your door – look forward to your own glossy copy of AWE, delivered five times a year
Subscribe View Subscription levels

STAY SAFE & INFORMED

Subscribe to the latest environmental monitoring articles, news, products and regulations

Find out more

Stay up to date with our newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ABOUT

  • About AWE
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

YOUR ACCOUNT

Sign In Register Account Subscribe to AWE

RESOURCES

Request Media Pack

CONNECT

ACCREDITATIONS

Copyright Bay Publishing 2023. All Rights reserved.

Designed & Built by:
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT