The United States and the European Union are working together to significantly reduce global greenhouse gas emissions from methane. This was announced by US president Joe Biden in the run-up to the international climate summit COP26 in Glasgow In November.
“Together with the European Union and other partners, we are committed to a global initiative to ensure that international methane emissions are at least 30 percent lower in 2030 than in 2020,” said Biden at a World Economic Forum Digital Summit.
According to the US president, the reduction of methane emissions could significantly slow down global warming and it would be good for public health.
Biden has called on countries to show maximum ambition at the upcoming climate summit. He called the aim to reduce methane emissions by almost a third ‘ambitious, but realistic’. The European Union has not yet responded to the objective presented by Biden.
At the Glasgow climate summit, the US and the EU want to try to get countries such as China, Russia, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia behind the methane pact.
The greenhouse gas methane is released in livestock farming, rice cultivation, thawing permafrost, waste heaps and the use of fossil fuels. The view of methane emissions from livestock farming has been changing lately.
The recent IPCC climate report states that the impact of cattle on methane emissions is overestimated three to four times. Scientists see methane of so-called’ biogenic origin ‘ as part of a short cycle between livestock and forage. Methane decomposes into CO2 in the atmosphere after some time, and that gas is absorbed as crops grow.
Methane from fossil sources is not part of such a cycle. The IPCC states that emissions from road traffic are underestimated four to five times.
About the author: Matthew Johnson
Matthew Johnson, a small tech business owner retired and found his passion in journalism.