Global Methane Pledge
Source: DTE
GS III: Food and Agriculture
What is discussed under this topic?
- Key Highlights of GMCCA
Why in News?
The Global Methane, Climate, and Clean Air (GMCCA) Forum 2022 is being held in Washington, DC, USA to examine ways to protect the climate and improve air quality, with a specific focus on methane, by signing the Global Methane Pledge.
Global Methane Pledge
- The Global Methane Pledge, which was introduced in 2021, intends to keep the 1.5 degrees Celsius target alive.
- Over a hundred nations have agreed to lower worldwide methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.
- This decrease might save more than 0.2 C of warming by 2050.
- It seeks to stimulate global action and improve support for current international methane emission reduction programmes in order to develop technical and policy work that will serve as the foundation for Participants’ domestic measures.
- It also acknowledges and appreciates the critical contributions that the corporate sector, development banks, financial institutions, and philanthropy play in supporting the Pledge’s implementation.
Key Highlights of GMCCA
- Without the Global Methane Pledge, methane emissions are expected to rise by 13% by 2030.
- According to the International Energy Agency, India, which is not a signatory to the Pledge, is one of the top five methane emitters in the world.
- Agriculture is responsible for the majority of emissions.
- Unlike carbon dioxide, methane and other short-lived climate pollutants such as hydrofluorocarbons remain in the Earth’s atmosphere for a few years.
- Their ability to warm the atmosphere maybe 80-1,500 times greater.
- Methane is responsible for around one-third of the current human greenhouse gas-induced warming.
- Reducing methane and other short-lived climate pollutants is critical to meeting decarbonisation targets.
- Methane enters the atmosphere as a result of leaks in the oil and gas sectors, animal raising, and waste decomposition in landfills.
- According to the Nature Geoscience editorial, viable policies and technology can cut global methane emissions by 57% by 2030.
- This reduction might reduce global warming by 0.25°C in 2050 and 0.5°C by the end of the century.
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