Example
Human sources include fossil fuel operations, livestock and decomposing organic waste. Cutting emissions can slow near-term warming.
The catch
Methane reduction complements sustained CO₂ cuts.
Related terms
Fossil fuel, Greenhouse gas, Anthropogenic methane, Biogenic methane, Flaring, Fossil methane
In more depth
Methane, explained.
Methane is responsible for about 30% of the rise in global temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, according to the IEA, which puts it behind only CO₂ as a driver of warming. Mass for mass, it warms about 80 times as much as CO₂ over 20 years and about 30 times over 100 years (IPCC AR6, UNEP). It also leaves the air quickly, staying for roughly a decade (about 12 years) before chemical reactions break it down.
That short lifetime is why methane cuts work fast. When emissions fall, the concentration falls within years and the extra warming eases with it. UNEP's Global Methane Assessment (2021) found that cutting human-caused methane by 45% this decade would avoid nearly 0.3°C of warming by the 2040s. The same chemistry feeds ground-level ozone, which harms health and crops, so methane cuts also improve air quality.
Natural sources, led by wetland emissions, add to the human total, with smaller contributions from geological seeps. Human releases are the part society can control, and many are concentrated. A single super-emitter at a gas facility or landfill can release as much as many ordinary sites combined. When comparing methane with other gases, state which global warming potential horizon you used, because the choice changes the result considerably.
In the journal