The increase in the amount of methane in the atmosphere during the last five years has set  records, according to a top climate scientist.

Methane accounts for 30% of global warming, second only to carbon dioxide, said Ilissa Ocko, a climate scientist and senior adviser for the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Methane emissions primarily come from energy production, agriculture and waste, she said.

“Now the good news here is that while this is a serious problem, it is largely solvable. We have a lot of solutions already available for all these different sectors to cut methane emissions by very large amounts,” she said during a livestreamed congressional briefing on Capitol Hill on Sept. 20.

“So if we look at projections of where we think methane emissions will be globally in 2030, well, we think we have available technologies to cut those emissions in half,” she said.

Agricultural emissions

A lot of the emission reductions are coming from the energy and waste sectors. For the energy sector in particular, about half of the achievable cuts are near-zero cost. 

Reducing methane emissions in agriculture is a more complicated piece of the puzzle, she said.

“But even if we just did everything, to enact what we have right now, we could see very meaningful climate benefits in the coming decades,” she said.

“The faster we act and scale up all of these actions globally, the slower our rate of warming will be. That’s really important for extreme weather events, for example, and minimizing their risks,” she said.

Big impact

Reducing methane is the single fastest thing that can be done to slow warming because the gas doesn’t stick around in the atmosphere long, she said.

“So the moment we stop replenishing the atmosphere with methane, we can almost immediately reduce its warming impact. The same can’t be said for carbon dioxide that builds up in the atmosphere, can last a very long time,” she said.

“That’s why it’s so critical to reduce our emissions of CO2 and get to net zero because we’re basically preventing warming for generations to come,” she said.

Methane is a different challenge and an opportunity, she said.

“We have made tremendous progress in recent years. There is a lot more to be done,” she said.

Global pledge

The first step needed for global methane action is mobilizing global awareness and support.

“And I give this a big check mark because I think we’ve done a phenomenal job doing the Global Methane Pledge,” she said.

That initiative was launched in 2021 by the U.S. and the European Union, with the goal of cutting methane emissions at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

“This really put methane on the global climate agenda for the first time,” she said.

There are now 158 countries participating, which are responsible for about half of current methane emissions, she said.

More countries are providing roadmaps as to how they are going to reduce emissions. The next step will be implementing all the mitigation plans for each country, for each sector, she said.