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Reducing methane emissions is the fastest way to slow global warming

Cutting methane emissions is the only clear action we can take to slow the amount of global warming we’ll experience in the next 20 years.

CATF was the first environmental group to publicly sound the alarm about the dangers of methane emissions. Over the last two decades, we have moved this issue from the unknown to the mainstream, laying the groundwork for the Global Methane Pledge, an unprecedented global commitment launched by more than 100 countries at COP26 in Glasgow.

0.5°C

Methane is responsible for 0.5°C of global warming experienced to date.

80x

Methane traps over 80 times more heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide over the first 20 years. Reducing methane pollution is critical in order to stay below the 1.5°C warming target.

40%

Existing technologies could cut methane emissions by more than 40%.

What is methane pollution?

Reducing methane pollution is the fastest way to slow global warming and avoid near-term and
irreversible impacts such as collapsing glaciers.

Follow the path of
methane emissions

Readily available solutions exist to substantially cut methane emissions from all sectors. CATF’s Country Methane Abatement Tool empowers governments to quickly tackle one of the ripest targets – methane pollution from the oil and gas sector.

Learn more about the sources of methane emissions throughout the oil and gas supply chain and see where methane leaks occur.

CATF methane materials

It’s time to take action

The Global Methane Pledge is the first-ever global political commitment recognizing methane’s dangers to the climate. It’s a tremendous display of ambition, and Clean Air Task Force is hard at work supporting and tracking its implementation to ensure that ambition is backed by action.

We need every country signing the Global Methane Pledge to develop a plan to rein in methane, and we need a crash effort to reduce methane emissions from the fossil fuel sector, where we have clear, cost-effective solutions at our fingertips.

What needs to be done to address the methane challenge?

We’re at 1.1°C now, and reducing methane from oil and gas and other sectors around the world could prevent nearly 0.3°C of warming by the 2040s.

At CATF, we are working to cut methane emissions by:

  • Scaling up policy advocacy at the regional, national, and subnational levels; ​
  • Accelerating action to help developing countries achieve their emissions reduction goals and build research capacity to identify solutions for large, neglected emissions sources; ​
  • Building more effective and binding international agreements on methane to help spur deeper emissions reductions.

CATF’s Methane Pollution Prevention Program

CATF advocates for reductions in methane emissions around the world by supporting scientific research, promoting policy initiatives, encouraging the development of financial incentives for pollution controls, and championing and defending standards that can dramatically reduce emissions.

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