{"id":36223,"date":"2024-09-17T13:20:16","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T20:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=36223"},"modified":"2024-09-17T13:20:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T20:20:17","slug":"record-rise-in-global-methane-levels-threatens-habitable-climate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/09\/17\/record-rise-in-global-methane-levels-threatens-habitable-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"Record Rise in Global Methane Levels Threatens \u2018Habitable Climate\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>By:\u00a0Cristen Hemingway Jaynes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published:\u00a0September 11, 2024<\/strong> (EcoWatch.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\" Edited by Chris McDermott<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gas flaring at an oil refinery. HHakim \/ E+ \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\" Why you can trust us<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While 155 countries have committed to reducing methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030 under the Global Methane Pledge<\/a>, new research<\/a> reveals that the world\u2019s methane emissions<\/a> have been rising at a record pace over the last five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least two-thirds of methane emissions produced each year come from human activities like agriculture<\/a>, fossil fuels<\/a>, landfills and other waste<\/a>, the Stanford Report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a new perspective article<\/a> published in Environmental Research Letters<\/em>, the researchers warn this dire pattern \u201ccannot continue if we are to maintain a habitable climate.\u201d The article was published with corresponding figures in Earth System Science Data<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both papers were produced by the Global Carbon Project<\/a>, an initiative that tracks global greenhouse gas emissions<\/a> and is chaired by Rob Jackson, a Stanford University scientist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concentrations of methane in the atmosphere have grown to more than 2.6 times what they were during pre-industrial times and the highest the planet has seen in 800,000-plus years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, the goals of the Global Methane Pledge seem as distant as a desert oasis,\u201d said Jackson, lead author of the paper published in Environmental Research Letters<\/em>. \u201cWe all hope they aren\u2019t a mirage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If humans continue on the current emissions path, the planet will experience global heating<\/a> from three to five degrees Celsius by 2100, according to the Stanford Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methane is produced by both human sources and natural sources such as wetlands<\/a>. It is a short-lived and highly potent gas that heats the atmosphere almost 90 times more quickly than carbon during the first two decades after it is released. This means it is important to target it in the short-term to reduce the pace of global heating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new estimates show that total yearly methane emissions have risen by 20 percent \u2014 61 million tons \u2014 in the last two decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These increases are mostly driven by rising emissions from oil and gas<\/a>, coal<\/a> mining, sheep and cattle ranching<\/a> and food<\/a> and other organic waste decomposing in landfills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly the European Union and possibly Australia appear to have decreased methane emissions from human activities over the past two decades,\u201d said Marielle Saunois of France\u2019s Universit\u00e9 Paris-Saclay, lead author of the paper published in Earth System Science Data<\/em>. \u201cThe largest regional increases have come from China<\/a> and southeast Asia<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 400 million tons \u2014 65 percent \u2014 of methane emissions worldwide were from human activities in 2020, with waste and agriculture contributing twice as many emissions as the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers said anthropogenic emissions continued to climb through at least 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More From EcoWatch<\/p>\n\n\n\n