Earth Today | Deliver us from methane
Report calls for drastically reduced emissions from energy, agriculture, waste
Published:Thursday | November 21, 2024 | 12:07 AM
AS WORLD leaders meet in Baku, Azerbaijan for the international climate negotiations (COP29), a new report is calling attention to slashing methane emissions as one way to apply the emergency brake on global warming.
The fourth edition of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) publication, An Eye on Methane: Invisible but not unseen, has said that this is especially important, given that methane emissions from human activity are responsible for some one-third of the warming being experienced on the planet.
Further, reducing methane emissions from energy, agriculture and waste is reportedly the single most effective strategy to keep the goal to limit the warming of the planet to 1.5 degrees Celsius alive.
This temperature goal, reflected in the Paris Agreement, is especially important for Caribbean and other small island developing states that are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts fuelled by that warming – including extreme hurricanes and other weather events, sea level rise and coastal erosion, all of which have implications for public health, the health of economies, as well as for food and water security.
Fortunately, according to the report, “rapid advances in monitoring technology and heightened global attention” now allow for a determination of how much methane is entering the atmosphere and where they are occurring.
“UNEP’s IMEO is catalysing a methane data revolution and has created the tools to ensure that better data accelerates methane action. Through [the] Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), IMEO draws data from over a dozen satellite instruments to alert countries and governments of major emissions,” it noted.
“To date, UNEP has issued over 1,200 MARS notifications and enhanced the system’s capabilities with new AI (artificial intelligence) tools and an expanded engagement network. So far, MARS has catalysed and verified action to mitigate emissions across four continents,” it added.
Unfortunately, the data is underutilised.
“While the system’s capabilities and notifications have grown, response and action by operators and governments has not kept pace. Of the more than 1,200 MARS notifications issued, just over one per cent have received any substantive response. Given this low response rate, there is a clear climate opportunity for countries and governments to engage and increase mitigation action,” the 2024 publication revealed.
There is also a IMEO Methane Training Series, which has seen a doubling of participants from governments and industry who have been “empowered to identify and implement strategic actions by leveraging methane data”.
“To date, these trainings have been provided to over 1,000 individuals across 30 countries. Further, IMEO is ensuring major scientific efforts are paired with engagement, including in its Colombia and Nigeria country-wide baseline studies as well as work in Turkmenistan, where IMEO has provided analysis and scoping of a major in-country mitigation project with the potential to reduce four million tonnes of methane annually,” the report said.
Given the progress with data collection and training, the report maintains it is necessary that countries make the transition from ambition to action.
“Achieving global climate goals hinges on a decisive shift from ambition to action, and the tools to make that shift are already available. UNEP has laid the foundation for global methane progress with cutting-edge initiatives like the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0, MARS, its new Steel Methane Programme and a growing suite of data products. But real progress will only come when stakeholders across governments, industries and civil society embrace these resources and turn them into action,” the report said.
The OGMP is UNEP’s flagship oil and gas reporting and mitigation programme – the only such reporting framework for the sector.
“The path to a more sustainable future is clear – by harnessing the power of data and collaboration, we can dramatically cut methane emissions, slow global warming and deliver on the promise of the Global Methane Pledge and the Paris Agreement. The time to act is now,” it added.