Don’t overlook methane emissions in the fight against climate change

The transformation of the world’s energy systems lies at the heart of solutions to address the threat of climate change. From a quick glance at the headlines, it’s clear that things are moving fast.

Decarbonisation of electricity generation, the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, is still in its early stages, but is picking up pace as adoption of renewable sources of energy – particularly wind and solar – becomes widespread. Decarbonisation of transport – by phasing out fossil-fuel burning vehicles – has just begun, but recent advances in technologies and announcements by China, India and European countries on national goals for electric vehicles indicate that this challenge could soon be addressed on a large scale.

Less discussed is another huge contribution the energy sector could make to climate mitigation: getting methane out of energy production and use. While carbon dioxide is a much longer-lasting greenhouse gas – with a life cycle of centuries, compared to roughly 10 years for methane – methane is more than 80 times as potent, and makes up 16 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.