That’s why it’s a target for policymakers. But methane, the second-most important greenhouse gas, lingers in the atmosphere for only about a decade before being oxidized to form carbon dioxide.Īlthough methane doesn’t last as long, it is many times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the climate. Some carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for hundreds to thousands of years. Humans have released so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since beginning to burn fossil fuels in the 1800s that the accumulated gases are now trapping significantly more heat than is released to space. Evidence has clearly established that human activities are causing climate change. I am a climate scientist who has spent decades studying global warming. Moreover, emissions must not just reach net zero, they must stay there. Understanding the effectiveness of different strategies is important as countries plan their routes to net-zero emissions, which is necessary for the world to stop further climate change. The answers involve renewable resources and the so-called circular economy. Worldwide, 150 governments have committed to cutting methane emissions, both from agriculture and by cracking down on the largest source - fugitive leaks from natural gas pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure.īut is methane from cows really as bad for the climate as methane from fossil fuels? And given its shorter lifetime in the atmosphere, is methane as bad as carbon dioxide? Right now, the country’s effects on climate change come roughly equally from carbon dioxide and methane.

The reason seems simple enough: Cows release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and New Zealand has a goal of reaching net-zero emissions by the mid-century. New Zealand, where agriculture is one of the largest contributors to climate change, is proposing a tax on cow burps.

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