Climate summit: Around 80 countries want to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030
More than 80 countries have joined an EU and US initiative to reduce methane emissions at the UN climate conference in Glasgow. “Methane is one of the gases we can reduce most quickly,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday. Countries want to cut methane emissions by at least 30 percent by 2030 compared to 2020 levels.
Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases and is produced, among other things, in agriculture during the digestion process of cattle. It is responsible for “about 30 percent” of global warming since the industrial revolution, von der Leyen explained. Reducing emissions by 30 percent is one of the most effective ways to reduce global warming in the short term, she said, and will “put the brakes on climate change immediately.”
“It is the lowest hanging fruit,” the commission chief said.
Representatives of more than 190 countries are currently negotiating the further implementation of the 2015 Paris climate agreement at the COP26 world climate conference, which calls for limiting global warming to well below two degrees, ideally 1.5 degrees, compared to the pre-industrial era. Experts and the UN warn that the earth is currently heading for a warming of 2.7 degrees this century.