Human Caused Methane Emissions
Source : Down To Earth
GS III : Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

Why in News ?

Human caused methane emissions must be cut by 45 per cent to avoid the worst effects of climate change a new United Nations report.

About the Report

• Report titled Global Methane Assessment : Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions.
• It was released by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the United Nations Environment Programme May  2021.

Key Facts

• Cut would prevent a rise in global warming by up to 0.3 degrees Celsius by 2045.
• It would also prevent 260,000 premature deaths 775,000 asthma-related hospital visits annually as well as 25 million tonnes of crop losses.
• Human-caused methane emissions are increasing faster currently than at any other time since record keeping began in the 1980s.
• Carbon dioxide levels have dropped during the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
  • Methane in the atmosphere reached record levels last year, according to the data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• This was a cause of concern as methane was an extremely powerful greenhouse gas.
  • It was responsible for about 30 per cent of warming since pre-industrial times.

Measure Taken

• European Commission had adopted the European Union Methane Strategy in October 2020.
  • It outlined measures to cut methane emissions in Europe and internationally.

Activities causing Methane Emission ?

• UN report noted that most human-caused methane emissions came from three sectors:
  • Fossil fuels
  • Waste
  • Agriculture.
• Fossil Fuels
  • Oil and gas extraction, processing and distribution accounted for 23 per cent of methane emissions.
  • Coal mining accounted for 12 per cent of emissions.
• Landfills and wastewater made up about 20 per cent of emissions in the waste sector.
• Agricultural sector
  • Livestock emissions from manure and enteric fermentation constituted for roughly 32 per cent
  • Rice cultivation eight per cent of emissions.

How can the emission controlled ?

• Europe had the greatest potential to curb methane emissions from farming, fossil fuel operations and waste management.
• India had the greatest potential to reduce methane emissions in the waste sector.
• China’s mitigation potential was best in coal production and livestock, while Africa’s was in livestock, followed by oil and gas.
• Fossil fuel industry had the greatest potential for low-cost methane cuts.
• The waste sector could cut its methane emissions by improving the disposal of sewage around the world.
• Three behavioural changes could reduce methane emissions by 65–80 million tonnes per year over the next few decades
  1. Reducing food waste and loss
  2. Improving livestock management
  3. Adopting healthy diets 

Initiative to tackle Global Methane and Global Warming

• Global Methane Initiative 
  • Launched in 2004 the GMI is an international public-private initiative
  • Focus on use of methane as a clean energy source in three sectors :
    • Bio-gas including agriculture, municipal solid waste, and wastewater
    • Coal mines
    • Oil and gas systems.
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
  • International environmental treaty addressing climate change
  • Negotiated and signed by 154 states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)
  • Informally known as the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro
• Kyoto Protocol
  • international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus
  • The Kyoto Protocol applies to the six greenhouse gases
    • Carbon dioxide (CO2)
    • Methane (CH4)
    • Nitrous oxide (N2O)
    • Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
    • Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
    • Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
• International Carbon Action Partnership
  • founded in 2007 by more than 15 government representatives as an international cooperative forum.

Greenhouse Gases

Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases. They let sunlight pass through the atmosphere, but they prevent the heat that the sunlight brings from leaving the atmosphere. 

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) : Carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere through burning fossil fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil, solid waste, trees and other biological materials
  • Also as a result of certain chemical reactions like manufacture of cement.
• Methane (CH4) : Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil.
• Nitrous oxide (N2O) : Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural, land use, industrial activities, combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste, as well as during treatment of wastewater.
• Fluorinated Gases : Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride, and nitrogen trifluoride are synthetic, powerful greenhouse gases that are emitted from a variety of industrial processes.
• Water vapor (H2O) : Produce by normal Evaporation and Boiling of water. accounts for the largest percentage of the greenhouse effect, between 36% and 66% for clear sky conditions and between 66% and 85% when including clouds
• Ozone (O3) : Its highest concentration high in the ozone layer of the stratosphere, which absorbs most of the Sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Contribution to warming is 3-4 %. 

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