The role of methane in climate change

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It is necessary to realize that the largest amount of methane is released into the atmosphere by human activity. Several studies have already confirmed that the most methane is released during the production of oil and natural gas. Industry accounts for up to 40 percent of released greenhouse gas. In total up to 60 percent of methane is released into the atmosphere due to human activity.

About a quarter of methane is released in food production and agriculture. At the same time, there are constant natural releases of methane from the soil seabed and mud volcanoes. Additional methane is also released when permafrost melts or in wetlands.

There is a need to limit unnecessary methane emissions in industry until recently this was not given the necessary attention and the blame was placed on livestock. Ice samples from Greenland and Antarctica which contained air from before the industrial revolution testify to an unusually large amount of methane release over the past few hundred years. Scientists from the University of Rochester have confirmed that the samples show that at that time the air contained only a minimum of naturally released methane compared to today.

Methane is a colorless and odorless gas and is the main component of natural gas. It is difficult to determine exactly how much methane contributes to global warming but scientists believe that it has contributed as much as thirty percent since the Industrial Revolution.

One solution to reducing the release of methane into the atmosphere would be to legislate for oil and gas companies to cover all leaks. Thanks to this, according to the International Energy Agency methane emissions would be reduced by up to 75 percent. In practice this would mean that companies would have to install new equipment and replace any faulty ones that cause unnecessary leaks.

The European Union finally approved several new regulations in May of this year that will force fossil fuel companies to measure and report methane leaks. They will then have to be repaired within fifteen working days. Part of the regulation is a ban on burning and venting. However, the regulations contain several exceptions when incineration can occur. However these are only cases where it is not technically possible to push the natural gas back into the ground or to transport it elsewhere.

Source: Indianeexpress/Editorial