Methane In Air Rising 10 Times Faster Than Before, Warn Experts

A decade long surge of the potent greenhouse gas methane threatens to make the fight against global warming even harder, researchers warned on 12 December. Additional attention is urgently needed to quantify and reduce methane emissions. After rising slowly from 2000 to 2006, the concentration of methane in the air climbed 10 times more quickly the following decade, according to that study, published in the peer reviewed Earth System Science Data. The largely unexplained – increase was especially sharp in 2014 and 2015. Keeping global warming below 2°C is already a challenging target. On current trends, average global temperatures are on track to jump by more than 3°C by 2100, even if national carbon cutting pledges annexed to the Paris Agreement are honored. Methane is 28 times more efficient at trapping the Sun’s heat than CO2. About a third of human generated methane is a byproduct of the fossil fuel industry, while two-thirds come from livestock production and agriculture.