PLEA Network

29 September 2017, Carbon Brief, Analysis: What does revised methane data mean for the Paris Agreement? A study released today finds that global methane emissions from agriculture are much larger than previous estimates have suggested. Revised calculations find that methane emissions from livestock in 2011 were 11% higher than modelled estimates based on data produced in 2006 by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). In response, media outlets including the BBC Radio 4 Today programme and Agence France-Presse (AFP) released reports suggesting that the findings could mean that it will be harder for countries to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement. Carbon Brief spoke to the authors of the new study, as well as scientists from the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds, and asked them to analyse these claims. What did the new study find? Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and the second biggest contributor to human-caused global warming after carbon dioxide. Livestock produce large amounts of methane as part of their normal digestive process, largely through passing wind. Also, when the animal manure is stored or managed in lagoons or holding tanks, more methane is released into the atmosphere. The extent to which methane emissions from agriculture could contribute to future global warming has been examined by international scientific bodies including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Read More here