The International Observatory for Methane Missing (IMEO) highlights the reduction potential for the fossil fuels sector, which would be “by far the most important among all the emission sources” of this greenhouse gas.
by
If a methane molecule is twenty-five times more powerful as a direct greenhouse gas than a molecule of co 2 , it oxidizes after a decade. “Reducing methane emissions quickly is the most effective way to combat short -term climate change,” said the International Observatory for Methane Missing (IMEO) of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), in A 2022 report published Monday October 31. The authors rely on the 6
“Today, we are on a significant growth of atmospheric concentration of methane, in total contradiction with the desire to reduce emissions”, alerts Philippe Bousquet, professor at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en -Yvelines and specialist in the modeling of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. An incessant increase in methane concentrations has been observed since 2007, with an increasingly sustained rate of progression from 2014. The amount of methane issued by human activities, in 2017, is estimated at 322 million tonnes, according to the latest reference study cited by IMEO.
The main sources of emission, recalls the observatory, are the production of oil and gas, the use of coal to manufacture steel, waste, rice production and livestock. Among them, the fossil fuels sector would have a potential for reducing methane emission “by far”.
Thus, to manage to reduce methane emissions linked to human activities, the IMEO emphasizes the sector of fossil fuels, which “is able to reduce its 75 % emissions by 2030 without cost Significant and without impact on the global operation of the market “, improving its industrial processes, advances the European Energy Commissioner, Kadri Simson, in the new report. The fossil fuels sector issued 125 million tonnes of methane in 2017, or 39 % of global emissions that year.
However, the observatory warns on “uncertainty concerning the magnitude and location” of emissions, by explaining the multiple reasons: estimation methods based on theoretical broadcast rates for each activity, without taking into account the real production conditions; the diversity of sources and the extent of their distribution in the environment; The attention paid to methane which would be relatively recent … “Methane was not a political priority”, says the IMEO, who wishes to reverse the trend with an effective implementation of the global pact for methane.
You have 48.1% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.