Global emissions of methane, a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, increased 9% between 2006 and 2017, mainly due to the energy sector and agriculture, according to a recently published study.

Global emissions of methane, a much more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2, increased 9% between 2006 and 2017, mainly due to the energy sector and agriculture, according to a recently published study.

Methane is the second man-made greenhouse gas (related to human activity) after carbon dioxide (CO2), but its warming effect is 28 times greater per kilogram than that of CO2 within 100 years.

“If we want to respond to the Paris Agreement, we must not be content with limiting carbon dioxide emissions, we must also reduce those of methane,” says Marielle Saunois, from the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences, who coordinated the study.