Australia produces nearly 4 million tons of methane annually and is 'turbo-charging' climate change – Climate Council

Australia produces nearly four million tonnes of methane annually and is "turbo-charging" climate change, according to research compiled in a new report from the Climate Council, a not-for-profit climate science organisation.

The government urgently needs to commit to limiting Australia's methane output, which is far higher than the global average, a new report says.

Professor Lesley Hughes, a founding councillor of the Climate Council, says methane is a climate supercharger and the evil bridesmaid of greenhouse gases.

Hughes says methane traps 85 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, turbocharging the global warming that is driving extreme events like heatwaves, bush fires, and floods.

He says methane is estimated to be responsible for 25 to 30 per cent of global warming since pre-industrial times.

The Climate Council member says the report states Australia's methane production is "outsized" and produces around four to five times more methane per person than the global average.

He says Australia is the 12th largest methane polluter, ahead of larger economies including Germany and France.

Prof. Hughes says the International Energy Agency estimates that Australia could be under-reporting methane emissions from coal and gas by as much as 60 per cent.

He says Australia has signed the global pledge to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.

However, the Climate Council argues Australia lacks a proper national plan to meet the commitment.

The Council says the main sources of methane emissions are agriculture (52 percent), fossil fuel mining (25 percent), and household/business waste (11 percent), according to government data.

They say Australia's fossil fuel, agriculture and waste sectors produced 3.9 million tonnes of methane in the year to December 2023.

Prof. Hughes says agriculture contributed 2.3 million tonnes and the extracting, processing and use of fossil fuels released around 1.2 million tonnes of methane during this period, while waste from homes and businesses ware responsible for 0.5 million tonnes.

He says to combat methane emissions in agriculture, Australia must escalate research into reducing the climate impacts of meat and dairy production," Hughes said.

Prof. Hughes adds they need to incentivise farmers to cut methane emissions, promote sustainable protein alternatives and give consumers more information on the environmental effects of food choices.

Source: SBS.com.au