Researchers concerned about the high rise of methane in China and Southeast Asia. Image BSS
(The Post News)- Research has shown the large increases in emissions of the greenhouse gas come from China and Southeast Asia. According to researchers, it’s been shown concentrations of methane are rising at an alarming pace which jeopardizes global climate goals. According to a study which was published by the Global Carbon Project, the potent greenhouse gas being the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, has increased by at least 20% over the last 20 years despite global efforts to reduce it.
The study says methane concentrations have increased faster than in any period since record-keeping began, in the past five years. The primary driver to this increase is coal mining, oil and gas production and use, cattle and sheep ranching, and decomposing food and organic waste. About 41.8million tonnes of methane entered the atmosphere in 2020, which was double the average amount added yearly in the 2010s, and over six times the average in the previous decade.
Pep Canadell, Global Carbon Project’s executive director says the anthropogenic emissions have continued to increase in almost every other country in the world, with the exception of Europe and Australia, which is a slow declining trend. The researchers have found the largest increases have originated from China and Southeast Asia and are primarily linked to coal extraction, oil and gas production and landfills.
The study warns that rising methane pollution has undermined efforts to limit global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius.
The recent spike in emissions of the gas comes regardless of the “Global Methane Pledge”, which has seen over 150 countries commit to the work towards cutting 2020 global emissions levels by 30% by 2030. Rob Jackson from Stanford University, the lead author of the study, which appeared in Environmental Research Letters says the goals of the pledge, which are not signed by China, Russia or India seem as distant as a desert oasis. He says they hope they are not a mirage.
Apart from the fact that Chaina failed to sign the 2021 pledge, it plans to host a joint summit with the US on greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide later this year at the UN climate change conference, which is raising hopes for a broader climate action.
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