• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance
  FEATURED
‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission September 28, 2023
Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds September 28, 2023
Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab September 28, 2023
Put Lower-Income Households First in Line for Low-Carbon Technologies: Samson September 28, 2023
Fossil Fuels Fall 25% by 2030, Renewables ‘Keep the Path Open’ in IEA Net-Zero Update September 26, 2023
Next
Prev

Emissions from Agriculture Drive Spike in Atmospheric Methane

December 14, 2016
Reading time: 2 minutes

skeeze/pixabay

skeeze/pixabay

 
skeeze/pixabay
skeeze/pixabay

While carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have been rising at a slightly slower rate in recent years, levels of methane—the main greenhouse gas’s shorter-lived but more potent sibling—have been soaring, the international Global Carbon Project research consortium reports.

After rising by about 0.5 parts per billion per year in the early 2000s, methane concentrations “spiked by 12.5 parts per billion in 2014 and 9.9 parts per billion in 2015,” the Washington Post writes, citing the GCP findings. “With carbon dioxide rising more slowly, that means a higher fraction of the global warming that we see will be the result of methane, at least in the next decade or so.”

  • Concise headlines. Original content. Timely news and views from a select group of opinion leaders. Special extras.
  • Everything you need, nothing you don’t.
  • The Weekender: The climate news you need.
Subscribe

“Methane in the atmosphere was almost flat from about 2000 through 2006. Beginning 2007, it started upward, but in the last two years, it spiked,” Stanford University earth scientist and GCP report co-author Rob Jackson told the Post.

Methane concentrations in the atmosphere have more than doubled since the pre-industrial era, from about 700 to more than 1,840 ppb. At just 1.8 parts per million, that’s a fraction of carbon dioxide’s concentration, which broke through 400 ppm this year. “But molecule for molecule, methane packs a much stronger punch,” the Post notes. “Over a 100-year period, the emission of a given amount of methane is about 28 times as powerful when it comes to global warming as the emissions of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide (even though the methane doesn’t stay around for that long).”

At present methane concentrations, that’s like adding the global warming effect of another 50 ppm of carbon dioxide over the next century—for an effective total climate impact equivalent to 450 ppm of CO2 levels alone.

“Looking at the scenarios for future emissions, methane is starting to approach the most greenhouse gas-intensive scenarios,” Jackson said. “That’s bad news. We’re going in the wrong direction.”

Methane has been a particular target of the three NAFTA leaders this year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Barack Obama announced tighter controls on methane emissions by the fossil fuel industry in March. Mexico signed on in June. Watchers of U.S. president-elect Trump’s cabinet appointments, heavily loaded with climate science deniers and fossil industry lobbyists, have suggested the initiative may not survive his inauguration.

But as it turns out, fossil emission may play a relatively minor role compared to other sources of methane, which occurs naturally as a by-product of the breakdown of organic matter. The big source of growing emissions appears to be the world’s appetite for meat.

“We think agriculture is the number one contributor to the increase,” Jackson said. “There’s been a secondary increase from fossil fuel use, partly because there continues to be more fossil fuels extracted. We do think they’ve increased, but we don’t see evidence for leaky oil and gas wells causing this spike in global methane.”

Rather, Jackson said the main bump in emissions is “almost certainly coming from livestock and specifically cattle, and also rice paddies, landfills, and the management of manure in agriculture.”



in Canada, Carbon Levels & Measurement, Climate & Society, Fossil Fuels, Jurisdictions, Methane, Oil & Gas, United States

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

GFDL/Wikimedia Commons
Energy Subsidies

Clean Energy Funding Isn’t Just About Money, Policy Expert Warns

October 2, 2023
0
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Wikimedia Commons
Arctic & Antarctica

Climate Change Brings Rapid Ice Loss to Antarctica, Arctic, Swiss Glaciers

October 2, 2023
1
Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons
Cities & Communities

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
251

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Iota 9/Wikimedia Commons

‘Huge Loss’ for Local Green Economy as Vancouver Shutters Its Economic Commission

September 28, 2023
251
Rewat Wannasuk/Pexels

Virtual Power Plants Could Cut Peak Demand 20%, Save U.S. Grid $10B Per Year

September 20, 2023
201
Solarimo/pixabay

Leading Climate Models Underestimate Clean Energy Progress, Overstate Cost, Study Finds

September 28, 2023
176
McDonald's/flickr

McDonald’s Failing to Follow Through on Climate Promises, Critics Say

December 17, 2021
2.6k
Jason Blackeye/Unsplash

Fossil Fuels Fall 25% by 2030, Renewables ‘Keep the Path Open’ in IEA Net-Zero Update

September 28, 2023
472
Kristoferb/Wikimedia Commons

Oxford Expert Tackles 20 Myths About Heat Pumps

May 1, 2023
3.8k

Recent Posts

Duffins Agriculture Preserve/North Country House Media via Greenbelt Foundation

Green Space Groups Gear for Bigger Fights After Ontario Reverses Greenbelt Land Grab

September 28, 2023
207
DiscoverEganville/wikimedia commons

EV Rentals to Improve Transportation Access for Ontario Townships

September 28, 2023
72
shopblocks/flickr

E-Bikes, Scooters Overwhelm Toronto Bike Lanes

September 28, 2023
95
kelly8843496 / Pixabay

Put Lower-Income Households First in Line for Low-Carbon Technologies: Samson

September 28, 2023
43
Power lines, Mississauga, Canada

Two First Nations Groups Vie to Build Northern Ontario Power Line

September 28, 2023
146
Friends of the Urban Forest/flickr

U.S. Pours Record $1B into Urban Forest Grants

September 28, 2023
46
Next Post

China’s electric vehicles set for bumpy ride

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
The Energy Mix - Energy Central
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Cities & Communities
  • Electric Mobility
  • Heat & Power
  • Community Climate Finance

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}