Pollution of Potent Warming Gas Methane Soars and People Are Mostly to Blame 

Excavators transfer coal at the coal terminal of Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on January 22, 2024. (AFP)
Excavators transfer coal at the coal terminal of Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on January 22, 2024. (AFP)
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Pollution of Potent Warming Gas Methane Soars and People Are Mostly to Blame 

Excavators transfer coal at the coal terminal of Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on January 22, 2024. (AFP)
Excavators transfer coal at the coal terminal of Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on January 22, 2024. (AFP)

The amount and proportion of the powerful heat-trapping gas methane that humans spew into the atmosphere is rising, helping to turbocharge climate change, a new study found.

Tuesday’s study said that in 2020, the last year complete data is available, the world put 670 million tons (608 million metric tons) of methane in the air, up nearly 12% from 2000. An even more significant finding in the study in Environmental Research Letters was the source of those emissions: those from humans jumped almost 18% in two decades, while natural emissions, mostly from wetlands, inched up just 2% in the same time.

Methane levels in the air are now 2.6 times higher than in pre-industrial times, the study said. Methane levels in the air had plateaued for a while in the early 2000s, but now are soaring. Humans cause methane emissions by burning fossil fuels, engaging in large-scale agriculture and filling up landfills.

“Methane is a climate menace that the world is ignoring,” said study lead author Rob Jackson, head of the Global Carbon Project, which is a group of scientists who monitor greenhouse gas emissions yearly. “Methane has risen far more and much faster than carbon dioxide.”

Carbon dioxide is still the biggest threat, added Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist. Humans, mostly through the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, put 60 times more carbon dioxide in the air than methane and it lasts thousands of years.

Because methane leaves the atmosphere in about a decade, it's a powerful “lever” that humans can use to fight climate change, Jackson said. That's because cutting it could yield relatively quick benefits.

In 2000, 60% of the methane spewed into the air came from direct human activity. Now it's 65%, the study found.

“It's a very worrying paper, but actually not a big surprise unfortunately,” said climate scientist Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, who wasn't part of the research. He said for the world to keep warming to an agreed-upon limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, the world needs to cut carbon dioxide emissions nearly in half and methane by more than one-third.

But Jackson said the current trend with methane emissions has the world on target for warming of 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit), twice the goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Jackson's study mostly focused on where the methane is coming from, both by location and source.

Geographically, everywhere but Europe is increasing in human-caused methane emissions, with large jumps in Asia, especially China and India, Jackson said.

In the last 20 years, methane emissions from coal mining, oil and gas have jumped 33%, while landfill and waste increased 20% and agriculture emissions rose 14%, according to the study. The biggest single human-connected source of emissions are cows, Jackson said.

Cornell University climate scientist Robert Howarth faulted the study for not sufficiently emphasizing methane emissions from the boom in shale gas drilling, known as fracking. He said that boom began in 2005 and coincided with a sharp rise in methane emissions, including a spike of about 13 million tons (11.7 million metric tons) in the United States alone since then.

Jackson said the rise in natural methane from tropical wetlands was triggered by warmer temperatures that caused microbes to spew more gas. He called it disturbing because “we don't have any way of reducing” those emissions.

In 2021, countries promised to do something about methane, but it's not working yet, Jackson said.

Though Jackson's data runs only through 2020, he said global monitoring of methane levels in the air show that “we know that concentrations in the last four or five years rose faster than at any time in the instrument record. So that alone tells us that the global methane pledge is not having a substantive effect on methane emissions and concentrations.”

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver, who wasn't part of the research, said: “We have a lot more work to do if we want to avoid the most dire consequences of global warming.”



King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority Joins IUCN Green List

The Green List provides crucial guidelines for conservation and involving stakeholders in sustainable development processes - SPA
The Green List provides crucial guidelines for conservation and involving stakeholders in sustainable development processes - SPA
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King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority Joins IUCN Green List

The Green List provides crucial guidelines for conservation and involving stakeholders in sustainable development processes - SPA
The Green List provides crucial guidelines for conservation and involving stakeholders in sustainable development processes - SPA

The King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority has announced its inclusion in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List.
This recognition follows a comprehensive assessment of the reserve by IUCN experts, who evaluated the authority's environmental and developmental accomplishments, as well as its engagement with the community and preservation efforts, SPA reported.
Authority CEO Abdullah Al-Amer emphasized the significance of this milestone, stating: "Since its establishment, the authority has pursued strategies, development plans, and innovative initiatives to fulfill its core objectives. Through these endeavors, we have successfully met all the key criteria and indicators for joining the IUCN Green List."
Al-Amer attributed this to the support lent by the Saudi leadership and the guidance from Minister of Interior and Chairman of the authority Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz.
Inclusion in the Green List adds to the authority's local and global successes, including receiving the Biodiversity Certificate and designating five critical bird sites within the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve.
Al-Amer stressed that making it on the list is testimony to an effective reserve management and focus on natural resource growth; it now facilitates the growth of over 550 plant species.
The authority's initiatives include planting 2.4 million native tree and shrub seedlings, as well as four tons of local seeds like yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Artemisia, and Haloxylon.
Efforts have been made to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded habitats and relocate 1,235 wildlife species like Arabian oryx, sand gazelles, Arabian gazelles, and Arabian leopards in the reserve.
The authority's achievements are due to its strategic objectives; being on the Green List is a key milestone.
This authority is determined to manage protected areas through sustainable programs focused on environmental conservation, community engagement, and sustainable development, in line with international standards.