Methane: A Neglected Greenhouse Gas
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Methane: A Neglected Greenhouse Gas. / Kemfert, Claudia; Schill, Wolf-Peter.
In: DIW Weekly Report, Vol. 5, No. 32, 18.11.2009, p. 218-223.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Methane: A Neglected Greenhouse Gas
AU - Kemfert, Claudia
AU - Schill, Wolf-Peter
PY - 2009/11/18
Y1 - 2009/11/18
N2 - Methane is a greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide. This is entirely unwarranted. Being 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, methane accounts for about one-sixth of all anthropogenic (i.e. human-induced) greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is also overlooked when it comes to taking concrete measures for climate protection, despite the fact that reducing methane emissions is potentially cheap. Major sources of methane emissions are livestock farming, the natural gas sector, landfills, wetland rice cultivation and coal mining. In many cases, it is possible to mitigate substantial amounts of methane in a cost-effective way. Moreover, captured methane can be used for generating heat and power. In other words, abating one ton of methane emissions is sometimes cheaper than abating an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. The challenge is to effectively incorporate cutbacks of methane gas emissions into climate policy strategies.
AB - Methane is a greenhouse gas that gets far less public attention than carbon dioxide. This is entirely unwarranted. Being 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere, methane accounts for about one-sixth of all anthropogenic (i.e. human-induced) greenhouse gas emissions. Methane is also overlooked when it comes to taking concrete measures for climate protection, despite the fact that reducing methane emissions is potentially cheap. Major sources of methane emissions are livestock farming, the natural gas sector, landfills, wetland rice cultivation and coal mining. In many cases, it is possible to mitigate substantial amounts of methane in a cost-effective way. Moreover, captured methane can be used for generating heat and power. In other words, abating one ton of methane emissions is sometimes cheaper than abating an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. The challenge is to effectively incorporate cutbacks of methane gas emissions into climate policy strategies.
KW - Economics
KW - Methane
KW - Climate policy
KW - Mitigation
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 5
SP - 218
EP - 223
JO - DIW Weekly Report
JF - DIW Weekly Report
SN - 1860-3343
IS - 32
ER -