Methane

Methane is 80x more heat-trapping than carbon for the decade after it’s released into the atmosphere and threatens to intensify global heating. Methane is released from melting permafrost, during the production and transportation of coal, oil, and natural gas, land use, decaying organic waste, and from livestock.

Read a round-up of the headlines:

“Methane is responsible for about a quarter of global heating, and leaks from fossil fuel exploitation are a key source. Cutting these emissions is a fast and low-cost way to slow the temperature rise.”

The Guardian, UN climate summit host UAE failed to report methane emissions to UN | Cop28

“Methane was about 0.7 parts per million (ppm) of the air before humans began burning fossil fuels. Now it is over 1.9 ppm and rising fast. Roughly three-fifths of emissions come from fossil fuel use, farming, landfills and waste. The remainder is from natural sources, especially vegetation rotting in tropical and northern wetlands.

Methane is both a driver and a messenger of climate change. We don’t know why it is now rising so rapidly, but the pattern of growth since late 2006 resembles how methane behaved during great flips in Earth’s climate in the distant past.”

The Conversation, Rising methane could be a sign that Earth's climate is part-way through a 'termination-level transition'

“Freshwater ecosystems account for half of global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Rivers and streams, especially, are thought to emit a substantial amount of that methane, but the rates and patterns of these emissions at global scales remain largely undocumented.

An international team of researchers, including University of Wisconsin–Madison freshwater ecologists, has changed that with a new description of the global rates, patterns and drivers of methane emissions from running waters. Their findings, published today in the journal Nature, will improve methane estimates and models of climate change, and point to land-management changes and restoration opportunities that can reduce the amount of methane escaping into the atmosphere.”

Phys.org, Mapping methane emissions from rivers around globe reveals surprising sources

More reading

Australian coal miner's plans may double its methane emissions, Ember says - MINING.COM