{"id":24520,"date":"2024-12-16T12:12:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T10:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/?p=24520"},"modified":"2024-12-10T11:45:23","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T09:45:23","slug":"who-are-the-methane-super-emitters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnisostenibili.it\/en\/who-are-the-methane-super-emitters\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are the methane super-emitters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who are the “super emitters” of methane? Let’s explore them together and find out if cattle farms are really among them.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When discussing <\/span><\/span>methane emissions<\/b><\/span><\/span>, we immediately think of <\/span><\/span>cows and cattle farming<\/b><\/span><\/span>. But they can be part of the solution<\/a> to the <\/span><\/span>climate crisis<\/b><\/span><\/span>. Strange as it may sound, given the dominant narrative, the <\/span><\/span>‘super emitters’<\/b><\/span><\/span>, so-called because of their extremely high levels of this powerful climate-changing greenhouse gas they release, are others.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Methane is produced not only by <\/span><\/span>livestock digestion but also by rice paddies, wetlands, landfills, even oceans, and fossil fuel extraction<\/b><\/span><\/span>, whose emissions are much higher than expected. According to a report<\/a> by the International Energy Agency (IEA), <\/span><\/span>the impact of fossil fuel extraction<\/b><\/span><\/span>, such as gas, coal and oil, and <\/span><\/span>fugitive emissions, accounts for 34% of anthropogenic methane<\/b><\/span><\/span>, while methane from livestock accounts for 27% and landfills for 23%. The remaining 16% of anthropogenic methane comes from other agricultural activities.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Emissions detected from space<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

Thanks to <\/span><\/span>satellite systems<\/b><\/span><\/span>, it is now possible to identify <\/span><\/span>the main sources of methane<\/b><\/span><\/span>. Contrary to popular belief, <\/span><\/span>livestock farming is not the main source of methane emissions<\/b><\/span><\/span>. The satellite system called the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument<\/a> (Tropomi), can monitor <\/span><\/span>atmospheric methane concentrations<\/b><\/span><\/span> worldwide. This allows precise quantification and detection of the exact locations of the highest emissions with the ability to ‘zoom in’ and identify the structures responsible. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Data collected from space with such a sophisticated approach finally revealed the truth: <\/span><\/span>the Earth’s large landfills<\/b><\/span><\/span>, especially those in some cities, <\/span><\/span>emit more methane than expected<\/b><\/span><\/span>, as do <\/span><\/span>gas and oil<\/b><\/span><\/span> extraction. Thanks to these multi-satellite observations, it is possible to identify and monitor high-emitting landfills worldwide, with some of the largest emissions detected in <\/span><\/span>Buenos Aires, Delhi, Lahore and Mumbai<\/b><\/span><\/span>. According to the <\/span><\/span>Tropomi <\/b><\/span><\/span>data, emissions from cities are 1.4 to 2.6 times higher than previously estimated, and <\/span><\/span>landfills contribute up to 50% of these emissions<\/b><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another highly effective orbiting instrument that can scan large areas of the planet <\/span><\/span>to detect large global methane<\/b><\/span><\/span> emissions <\/b><\/span><\/span>is the spectrometer developed by <\/span><\/span>NASA<\/b><\/span><\/span> as part of the <\/span><\/span>Emit<\/b><\/span><\/span> study – NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Investigation<\/a>, which has identified <\/span><\/span>more than 50 “super emitters”<\/b><\/span><\/span> in Central Asia, the Middle East and the southwestern United States. Once again, <\/span><\/span>oil and gas facilities and large landfills were confirmed as major sources of methane<\/b><\/span><\/span>, with some of the largest methane plumes ever detected.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Livestock farming as part of the solution<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

As Professor<\/span><\/span> Frank Mitloehner<\/b><\/span><\/span>, an air quality specialist and professor in the Department of Animal Science at <\/span><\/span>UC Davis<\/b><\/span><\/span>, explains in this video<\/a>: “<\/span><\/span>There is a lot of potential for livestock to reduce global warming drastically<\/b><\/span><\/span>. We have mismeasured the contribution of methane. If we want to know the impact of methane reduction on warming, <\/span><\/span>the equivalence with the unit of CO2 is completely wrong<\/b><\/span><\/span>. If we keep the number of animals on the farm constant, <\/span><\/span>the amount of methane produced by the cows and the amount of methane destroyed will balance each other out<\/b><\/span><\/span>. This means we are not adding any new carbon to the atmosphere and, therefore, have <\/span><\/span>no additional warming<\/b><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Methane from livestock is considered a flow gas because it is destroyed when it is emitted. In contrast, carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is a stock gas that accumulates in the atmosphere. <\/span><\/span>Agriculture and livestock are the only human activities where carbon emissions and sequestration occur simultaneously<\/b><\/span><\/span>. Therefore, instead of warming the planet, <\/span><\/span>we could achieve short-term global cooling<\/b><\/span><\/span> by actively removing carbon from the atmosphere and storing atmospheric CO2 in the soil. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Livestock farming efforts to reduce CH4 emissions<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

The livestock sector has made significant progress in reducing methane production from cattle. In <\/span><\/span>California<\/b><\/span><\/span>, for example, <\/span><\/span>methane has been reduced by 25% through improved manure management<\/b><\/span><\/span> or <\/span><\/span>by adding probiotics<\/b><\/span><\/span>, red seaweed-based supplements<\/a> or even tannins to the diet<\/a>, which affect the digestive process. Cows fed this supplement even showed a 92% reduction in methane produced in the rumen, improving their welfare and production efficiency. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), <\/span><\/span>methane<\/b><\/span><\/span> is responsible for a quarter of global warming. Other reports show <\/span><\/span>a 45% reduction in this decade would prevent 0.3 degrees Celsius warming by 2040<\/b><\/span><\/span>. In Italy, new studies<\/a> with updated metrics<\/a> that consider <\/span><\/span>the differences between methane and CO2<\/b><\/span><\/span> confirm that <\/span><\/span>livestock farming has not affected the climate in the last decade but has contributed to cooling the atmosphere, with negative emissions of -49 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent<\/b><\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding who is responsible for<\/span><\/span> super methane emissions<\/b><\/span><\/span>, calculating their emissions accurately and stopping focusing on the wrong culprits, who can be of great help, is necessary to<\/span><\/span> effectively channel energies in the right direction<\/b><\/span><\/span>, based on science and not ideology, and effectively combat climate change. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who are the “super emitters” of methane? Let’s explore them together and find out if cattle farms are really among them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":24521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677],"tags":[6299,6301,6304,3294,2376,6302,6303,6306,6300,6305],"class_list":["post-24520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment-sustainability-en","tag-ch4-emissions","tag-landfill-emissions","tag-livestock-methane","tag-livestock-methane-emissions","tag-methane-emissions","tag-mining-site-methane-emissions","tag-probiotic-feed","tag-real-origins-of-emissions","tag-ruminant-methane-emissions","tag-super-methane-emitters"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t