Global Methane Pledge Signed By Over 90 Countries: All You Need To Know About The Pledge

Recently, few months back, the US President had announced the 'Global Methane Pledge', which is a 'United States-European Union'-led effort to cut methane emissions by one-third by the end of this decade.

The announcement came ahead of COP-26 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Glasgow, United Kingdom. It will also help in adhering to the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.

What is Global Methane Pledge?

The global Methane pledge was launched on Tuesday at the ongoing UN COP26 climate conference in Glasgow and it is signed by over 90 countries so far.

On the second day of the Climate Conference COP26, countries around the world pledged to reduce global methane gas emissions by 30 percent. Along with this, another pledge was also made to stop deforestation and increase the area of forests by 2030. These two decisions kept the Climate Change in motion for the second day on Tuesday in Glasgow.

India presented the five point climate agenda which gave the necessary momentum to the conference.

Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas, which has the potential to heat the earth 80 times more than carbon dioxide despite remaining in the atmosphere for a very short time.

As per the latest intergovernmental Panel on Climate report, of the 1.0 degrees Celsius net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era, methane accounts for half of it.

Methane accounts for about half of the 1.0 degrees Celsius net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era.

In a joint statement, EU-US asserted that reducing methane emission will compliment the action on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This is the effective strategy to reduce global warming in future.

"Rapidly reducing methane emissions is complementary to action on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and is regarded as the single most effective strategy to reduce global warming in the near term and keep the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach," the statement said.

What is Methane?

Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH4). It is flammable and is used as a fuel around the world and it's a powerful greenhouse gas.

About 40 percent of methane is emitted from natural sources and about 60 percent from human-influenced sources, including livestock farming, rice agriculture, biomass burning, etc.

Methane Effect:

Greater Global Warming Potential: It is about 80-85 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of its global warming potential. This establishes an important goal of reducing global warming more quickly, along with reducing other greenhouse gases.

Rising emissions are increasing tropospheric ozone air pollution, causing over one million premature deaths annually.

What will happen if methane emissions are cut?

A 30 percent reduction in methane emissions, especially by the middle of this century, could reduce the increase in Earth's temperature by 0.2 degrees. India has not signed both of these agreements, because the two main sources of methane emissions are agriculture and animal husbandry.

In such a situation, this is a very sensitive issue for countries with an agro-based economy like India. Similarly, Russia and China, the largest producers of methane, have also not signed the agreement. Both countries have signed a resolution to stop deforestation.

It is to be noted that such agreements are not new in the climate summit, but the earlier agreements have not given any encouraging results. At least the agreements related to stopping deforestation, there have been many proposals and alliances in the past as well. However, the proposal to cut methane emissions is the first of its kind, led by the US and the European Union.

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