TY - CHAP

T1 - Methane mitigation

AU - Kemfert, Claudia

AU - Schill, Wolf Peter

AU - Anthoff, David

AU - Johansson, Daniel J. A.

AU - Hedenus, Fredrik

PY - 2010/9/9

Y1 - 2010/9/9

N2 - I.troduction. Methane (CH4) is a major anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG), second only to carbon dioxide (CO2) in its impact on climate change. CH4 has a high global warming potential that is twenty-five times as large as that of CO2 on a 100-year time horizon according to the 2007 I.CC report (I.CC 2007a). T.us, CH4 contributes significantly to anthropogenic radiative forcing, although it has a relatively short atmospheric perturbation lifetime of twelve years. CH4 has a variety of sources that can be small, geographically dispersed, and not related to energy sectors. I. this chapter, we analyze CH4 emission abatement options in five different sectors and identify economic mitigation potentials for different CO2 prices. While mitigation potentials are generally large, there are substantial potentials at low marginal abatement costs (MA.s). Drawing on different assumptions on the social costs of carbon (S.C), we calculate benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) for different sectors and mitigation levels. We recommend an economically efficient global CH4 mitigation portfolio for 2020 that includes the sectors of livestock and manure, rice management, solid waste, coal mine methane, and natural gas. Depending on S.C assumptions, this portfolio leads to global CH4 mitigation levels of 1.5 or 1.9 GtCO2-eq at overall costs of around $14 billion or $30 billion and BCRs of 1.4 and 3.0, respectively. We also develop an economically less efficient alternative portfolio that excludes cost-effective agricultural mitigation options. I. leads to comparable abatement levels, but has higher costs and lower BCRs.

AB - I.troduction. Methane (CH4) is a major anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG), second only to carbon dioxide (CO2) in its impact on climate change. CH4 has a high global warming potential that is twenty-five times as large as that of CO2 on a 100-year time horizon according to the 2007 I.CC report (I.CC 2007a). T.us, CH4 contributes significantly to anthropogenic radiative forcing, although it has a relatively short atmospheric perturbation lifetime of twelve years. CH4 has a variety of sources that can be small, geographically dispersed, and not related to energy sectors. I. this chapter, we analyze CH4 emission abatement options in five different sectors and identify economic mitigation potentials for different CO2 prices. While mitigation potentials are generally large, there are substantial potentials at low marginal abatement costs (MA.s). Drawing on different assumptions on the social costs of carbon (S.C), we calculate benefit-cost ratios (BCRs) for different sectors and mitigation levels. We recommend an economically efficient global CH4 mitigation portfolio for 2020 that includes the sectors of livestock and manure, rice management, solid waste, coal mine methane, and natural gas. Depending on S.C assumptions, this portfolio leads to global CH4 mitigation levels of 1.5 or 1.9 GtCO2-eq at overall costs of around $14 billion or $30 billion and BCRs of 1.4 and 3.0, respectively. We also develop an economically less efficient alternative portfolio that excludes cost-effective agricultural mitigation options. I. leads to comparable abatement levels, but has higher costs and lower BCRs.

KW - Economics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84924110221&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/CBO9780511779015.006

DO - 10.1017/CBO9780511779015.006

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:84924110221

SN - 9780521763424

SP - 172

EP - 221

BT - Smart Solutions to Climate Change

A2 - Lomborg, Bjørn

PB - Cambridge University Press

CY - Cambridge

ER -