Methane emissions and global warming: Mitigation technologies, policy ambitions, and global efforts

William J. Sawyer*, Islam Genina, Rebecca J. Brenneis, Haosheng Feng, Yunpo Li, and Shao-Xiong Lennon Luo

Edited by Jennifer A. Cascino and Bertrand J. Neyhouse

Article | Aug. 29 2022

*Email: wjsawyer@mit.edu

DOI: 10.38105/spr.8u4spgvc0e

Highlights

Limiting methane emissions is necessary for both achieving long-term climate goals and mitigating impacts in the next 20 years.

Monitoring most methane emission sources is difficult because they are intermittent, diffuse, and at low concentration. Tools with higher resolution in space and time, along with new detection strategies, are needed.

A significant portion of emissions from the oil and gas sector could be prevented by widespread use of proven revenue-neutral technology and policies.

A fraction of emissions from agriculture and waste can be cost-effectively mitigated, while most are not manageable with existing methods.

Collaboration between private and public sectors would promote mutually beneficial policies and technologies to effectively reduce global methane emissions.

Article Summary

Methane emissions are the second highest contributor to climate change. Despite having a much lower atmospheric concentration than carbon dioxide, anthropogenic methane emissions account for almost one-third of anthropogenic warming since the pre-industrial period. Recently, the reduction of methane emissions has been recognized as an effective lever for reducing the impact of climate change in the next decade with less drastic economic and industrial costs than equivalent carbon dioxide mitigation. However, the wide range of methane emission sources, many of which are intermittent and at low concentration, poses a challenge for current detection and mitigation tools. Promising technical progress has been made on both fronts over the past decade, especially within the oil and gas sector, yet widespread implementation of mitigation policies and technologies lags considerably. The 2021 Global Methane Pledge for a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 signals an increase in political will and can be achieved with these existing tools. It is estimated that the majority of these reductions can be accomplished through revenue-neutral or positive actions. Yet, a faster rate of reductions and sustained reductions beyond what is already available will be needed to maintain a 1.5◦C pathway. In the long term, more comprehensive policies, coupled with significant innovations in methane emission monitoring and mitigation, could enable an effective climate change mitigation strategy.

Open Access

This MIT Science Policy Review article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/.

William J. Sawyer

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Islam Genina

D-Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Rebecca J. Brenneis

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Haosheng Feng

Department of Chemistry and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Yunpo Li

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Shao-Xiong Lennon Luo

Department of Chemistry and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA