{"id":36037,"date":"2025-06-05T14:13:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T12:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=36037"},"modified":"2025-06-05T14:14:32","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T12:14:32","slug":"methane-a-key-player-in-the-fight-against-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2025\/06\/05\/methane-a-key-player-in-the-fight-against-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Methane: A key player in the fight against climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate warming. It is considered the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG) after carbon dioxide (CO2) and has been responsible for approximately 20 % of direct greenhouse gas emissions since 1750. radiative forcing. With a high global warming potential (GWP) of between 84 and 87 over a 20-year period and a relatively short atmospheric lifetime (approximately 9.1 years), methane is receiving increasing attention. Reducing its emissions could have a positive short-term impact on climate change mitigation. In addition, methane contributes to the formation of tropospheric ozone, which has a negative impact on human health. Combating methane emissions therefore addresses environmental and climate issues while improving the quality of life of citizens.<\/p>\n

At the global level, legally binding regulations on greenhouse gases, including methane, have been introduced since the 2015 Paris Agreement, with the aim of significantly reducing global emissions. This was followed by the Global Methane Pledge signed in 2021, which aims to reduce global anthropogenic methane emissions across all sectors by at least 30 % below 2020 levels by 2030. At the European level, the Green Deal was launched in December 2019, setting targets to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. Following this, the European Commission published the EU Methane Strategy in 2020, which focuses on reducing emissions in the energy, agriculture and waste sectors.<\/p>\n

The success of these initiatives depends on scientific evidence based on reliable data<\/strong>The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Commission, provides environmental data on air quality and climate change to support decision-makers, businesses and citizens. CAMS databases contain near-real-time (NRT) analyses, reanalyses and forecasts of greenhouse gas fluxes and concentrations at the global level.<\/p>\n

Document<\/span><\/a> is an independent assessment of CAMS methane concentrations and fluxes. Extensive observational datasets are used to assess CH4 concentrations from CAMS, such as measurements from NOAA surface stations, high towers, aircraft (NOAA, CARIBIC, CONTRAIL), AirCore balloon measurements and total column measurements from the TCCON network. The assessment of CH4 fluxes from CAMS is carried out using the results of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) model. The JRC is the scientific and knowledge service of the European Commission, providing scientific support for EU policy-making.<\/p>\n

The results indicate that CAMS products based on inverse modeling reproduce observations well, especially at background. However, simulated concentrations are underestimated in the stratosphere, suggesting a need for revision of the transport and\/or chemistry scheme. CAMS products based on data assimilation (NRT analyses and EGG4 reanalyses) generally show larger biases and problems reproducing CH4 seasonality. These models also overestimate stratospheric CH4 concentrations. Continuous model improvements are essential to increase the accuracy of CH4 emission estimates and projections.<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The report's conclusions highlight the importance of improving modelling techniques and data collection to better capture the variability and distribution of atmospheric methane. Reliable data and models, such as those provided by CAMS, are crucial for informing policy decisions and supporting effective climate action. Spring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate warming. It is considered the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG) after carbon dioxide (CO2) and has been responsible for approximately 20 % of direct greenhouse gas emissions since 1750.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klimaticka-zmena"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36037\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}