Guest post: Why tough methane cuts are crucial for keeping warming ‘well-below’ 2C
Researchers from ETH Zurich argue that current climate strategies often overlook methane by grouping it with CO2, which masks the urgency of near-term warming. They propose a new framework that decouples methane reduction from CO2 targets to better address the goal of keeping warming well below 2C.
Why it matters
Refining how we measure and target methane emissions is essential for achieving near-term climate goals that CO2-only strategies may miss.
Konstantin Weber , doctoral student at ETH Zurich
Prof Reto Knutti , climate physicist and full professor at the department of environmental systems science at ETH Zurich
Dr Cyril Brunner , climate scientist and lecturer at the department of environmental systems science at ETH Zurich
Share Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide (CO2).
Methane traps heat in the atmosphere more efficiently than CO2, but has a significantly shorter lifespan, fading after just a few decades.
Therefore, reducing emissions of methane – a gas primarily produced by agriculture, fossil fuels and waste management – is a powerful option for limiting global warming in the near-term.
Yet climate strategies and models often only focus on CO2, or combine all greenhouse gases into one metric known as “CO2 equivalent”.
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