Agriculture
The single largest contributor to anthropogenic methane emissions is the livestock sector, where around 32 per cent of all man-made global methane emissions are estimated to originate from the digestive systems (known as enteric fermentation) and manure management of large, farmed animals (cattle in particular). Together with rice cultivation, the agriculture sector accounts for about 40 per cent of all man-made emissions.1 In the EU, the agriculture sector is responsible for 54 per cent of the EU’s methane emissions.2
If the system remains “business as usual” with increasing meat and dairy production and a growing world population, methane emissions from this sector will undermine our ability to achieve the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.
A number of cost-effective and ready-to-implement solutions already exist to reduce emissions from this sector, including shifting to healthier and more sustainable diets and consuming less and better meat and dairy. Current consumption rates are significantly higher than our bodies need to be healthy. Comprehensive technical measures can also be implemented in livestock farming to reduce methane emissions and emissions of other non-CO2 pollutants like nitrous oxide, which are also damaging the natural environment and another potent greenhouse gas.
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Curbing methane emissions has been described as ‘the strongest lever we can pull quickly to reduce warming by 2050’. Current financing models are simply not capitalising on this crucial opportunity to stay within the 1.5°C limit. The establishment of a dedicated methane fund, managed by the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund, would provide the essential financial backbone for realising lasting change. Why wait when the obvious solutions are on the table.
A recent article from our partners in Sweden, Airclim, looks at the widespread damage that ozone is causing to agricultural crops – and it’s no small matter. According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), global crop losses due to ozone damage between 2010 and 2012 for the four staple crops of soya, wheat, rice and maize were estimated to total 227 million tonnes, with a significant impact on both local economies and global food security. This is another important reason to reduce methane emissions, which are an important precursor to ozone.
DUH measures significant increase in methane concentrations around biogas plants and other diffuse sources. Germany’s methane emissions are probably much higher than officially reported. In addition to comprehensive monitoring of all relevant sources and immediate measures against leaks, DUH is calling on the German government to develop a national methane strategy with a specific reduction target and reduction measures in all sectors.
A binding and ambitious emissions reduction target for climate pollutants for the agricultural sector that is in line with the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement is essential. In order to achieve this, a fundamental change to the common agricultural policy is required, which must be accompanied by additional instruments such as the pricing of emissions. This new report shows how this can be achieved.
While methane has received significant attention from international institutions and the EU, much more needs to be done across sectors. In particular, in sectors such as waste and agriculture, which remain largely unregulated in terms of methane emissions, we must aim to achieve the same progress as the EU’s methane regulation for the energy sector. We need to maintain and reinforce these steps and ensure ambitious implementation at national level. It’s also important to remember that reducing methane emissions is not just about tackling climate change. There are multiple co-benefits, including improved air quality, better health outcomes, enhanced biodiversity, water conservation and increased food security.
Don’t miss this chance to contribute to Europe’s methane reduction efforts!
Changing Markets was at New York Climate Week as a member of the MMC and spoke about the narratives that Big Meat and Dairy Industry want you to believe in order to maintain the status quo. Can you tell fakes from facts? We dove into the strategies together and exchanged truths about Big Agri Companies. A purposeful discussion led to great results on the one hand and encouraged further efforts to reduce methane from agriculture on the other.
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG), around 80 times more powerful than carbon- dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period, and is responsible for a third of the global warming experienced to date.
Methane’s short lifespan makes it an attractive target for reducing climate warming quickly. Reducing human-caused methane emissions by up to 45% within a decade could prevent nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045 according to UNEP. This would support limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, aligning with the Paris Agreement goal and prevent health issues and premature deaths from ground-level ozone (air pollution). In addition, global crop yields could increase by more than 25 million tonnes per year.
Berlin, 10 April 2024: Climate-damaging methane emissions from opencast lignite mining in Germany are massively underestimated by the responsible regulatory authorities and in the German government’s greenhouse gas inventories and projection reports. […]
The International Energy Agency (IEA) today presented the latest data on methane emissions with the annual update of the “Global Methane Tracker”. […]
We, a coalition of non-profit organisations working on methane mitigation, are writing in response to the recent communication on Europe’s 2040 climate target and path to climate neutrality by 2050 building a sustainable, just, and prosperous society. While we welcome the ambitious target of a net reduction of greenhouse gas by 90%, we are concerned at the removal of the proposed 30% reduction target for non-C02 emissions […]
Recognizing that, in order to ensure that the global community meets the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C, significant methane emission reductions must be achieved globally by 2030. […]
In an age where information flows freely, misinformation is a potent force that can shape public perception and influence elections, corporate and political decisions. This study is a deep dive into information and misinformation on social media around production and consumption of animal products. […]
Addressing methane emissions is essential to limiting the impacts of the climate crisis and keeping the global temperature increase under 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement. Methane has extremely powerful effects on the climate in the short term, so cutting methane emissions now represents our best chance to put a brake on temperature rises […]
This report for the first time estimates the methane emissions of five of the largest meat corporations and ten of the largest dairy corporations. Their combined methane emissions are roughly 12.8 million tonnes, which equates to over 80 per cent of the European Union’s entire methane footprint. These companies’ emissions represent around 3.4 per cent of all global anthropogenic methane emissions and 11.1 per cent of the world’s livestock-related methane. […]
It is becoming increasingly clear that climate policies should prioritise tackling methane—the second most important GHG after carbon dioxide (CO2)—in addition to cuts in carbon dioxide emissions. Because methane is a very potent but short-lived gas, a swift reduction in methane emissions is a key opportunity to slow the rate of warming. […]
We have brought fresh air and thus also movement into the political discussion on the mitigation of ammonia and methane. Both gases have strong environmental impacts: Methane contributes significantly to climate change, both are harmful to health and destroy biodiversity on land and in water. […]
In the EU, domestic anthropogenic sources of methane emissions amount to 15.2 megatonnes (Mt) per year. This is roughly equivalent to the total emissions from 100 coal-fired power plants. The majority of methane emissions come from three sectors. In 2019, 53 per cent of emissions came from the agricultural sector (largely from meat and dairy production as cattle contribute a disproportionate proportion of these emissions), 27 per cent from the waste sector and 13 per cent from the energy sector. […]
Methane (CH4) is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2). Over a period of 20 years, it has 83 times more of an impact on the climate than CO2. According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), CH4 has been responsible for around 0.5°C of global warming since the beginning of industrialisation. […]
Our planet’s precious climate system is on the verge of irreversible disruption. Climate scientists have confirmed that a focus on methane (CH4) emissions—in addition to measures designed to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions—will be crucial in determining whether global heating can be kept below 1.5°C (as per the 2015 Paris Agreement) and whether reaching climate tipping points can be avoided. […]
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Other Main Sources of Methane Emission
The waste sector is the second largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions in the EU and contributes to around 27 per cent of all such emissions. The main strategies to reduce solid waste emissions are reduction, source separation and treatment of organic waste.
Around 20 per cent of global methane emissions are produced during the processing of gas, the extraction and processing of crude oil and coal and by fossil gas used in the petrochemical industry for the production of plastics. At EU level, excluding emissions associated with EU imports of oil, gas and coal, the figure is 17 per cent. However, a new analysis by the IEA shows that methane emissions from the energy sector are around 70 per cent higher than previously assumed.