The Global Methane Assessment baseline report

In news– The Global Methane Assessment: 2030 Baseline Report was launched at the Climate and Clean Air Ministerial Meeting at COP27 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change(UNFCCC).

Key highlights of the report-

Report was prepared by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
As per the report, methane emissions can rise 5-13 per cent above 2020 levels by 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario.
This represents an estimated increase of 20-50 million tonnes of methane per year above current levels.
This greenhouse gas is responsible for nearly 45 percent of current net warming, the report underlined.
The report evaluated the baseline, a scenario of what would happen without efforts such as the Global Methane Pledge.
The Global Methane Pledge was announced last year at CoP26. The goal is to slash global methane emissions by at least 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030.
Achieving the pledge could eliminate over 0.2 degree Celsius of warming from 2040-2070.
At CoP27, 150 nations joined the pledge. India and China have not made the commitment yet.
Around 95 per cent of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) now include methane or will include it in revised versions.
Methane levels in the atmosphere in 2021 reached a record high of 1908 parts per billion. This is 262 per cent of the preindustrial era levels.
Agriculture, fossil fuels as well as solid waste and wastewater are the three major sources of methane.
Human activities release 350-390 million tonnes of methane annually. Emissions from the agriculture and fossil fuel energy sectors are around 120-140 million tonnes per year, roughly twice that of the waste sector.
Emissions are projected to rise by about 11 million tonnes annually by 2030 under a business-as-usual scenario from the agriculture sector.
Emissions from fossil fuels and waste are estimated to go up by 10 million tonnes and 9 million tonnes respectively by the decade’s end under the same scenario.
But the world could reduce emissions from these sectors by roughly 180 million tonnes per year (45 per cent) by 2030 using currently available measures.
It added that the least-cost scenario requires reducing methane emissions by about 60 per cent from fossil fuels, 30-35 per cent from waste and 20-25 per cent from agriculture by 2030, compared to 2020. This can help contain global warming to 1.5°C — the goal set by the Paris Agreement.
The report highlighted substantial uncertainties in tracing emissions to specific sub-sectors such as livestock or oil.
At CoP27, the UN launched the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) to track methane emissions. It will go live in January 2023.
These developments, according to the report, will guide mitigation efforts more effectively, while also helping track changes in emissions over time as methane reduction policies are implemented.