Unlike CO2, atmospheric methane concentrations are rising faster than at any time in the past two decades and, since 2014, are now approaching the most greenhouse-gas-intensive scenarios. The reasons for this renewed growth are still unclear, primarily because of uncertainties in the global methane budget. New analysis suggests that the recent rapid rise in global methane concentrations is predominantly biogenic-most likely from agriculture-with smaller contributions from fossil fuel use and possibly wetlands. Additional attention is urgently needed to quantify and reduce methane emissions. Methane mitigation offers rapid climate benefits and economic, health and agricultural co-benefits that are highly complementary to CO2 mitigation.
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE-IPSL (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ), Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France;Department of Earth System Science, Woods Institute for the Environment, and Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2210, USA;Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE-IPSL (CEA-CNRS-UVSQ), Université Paris-Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France;Institute on Ecosystems and Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA;Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Recommended Citation:
M Saunois,R B Jackson,P Bousquet,et al. The growing role of methane in anthropogenic climate change[J]. Environmental Research Letters,2016-01-01,11(12)