Global methane emissions are accelerating at a worrisome clip, scientists have found — despite a pledge from dozens of countries to reduce their output of the powerful greenhouse gas.
And about two-thirds of these methane emissions — which are more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to warming the atmosphere — are the product of human activities.
That’s the latest update from the Global Carbon Project, an international research organization that tracks greenhouse gas emissions and their sources. A new report has found that methane emissions are increasing faster than any other major greenhouse gas, including carbon dioxide, with global concentrations now 2.6 times higher than they were prior to the industrial era.
Between 2018 and 2020, the most recent time period with complete data available, human-caused methane emissions likely approached 400 million metric tons worldwide annually. That’s 15 to 20 percent higher than the period from 2000 to 2002, just two decades prior.
