1 ton of methane emitted today warms more in one year than one ton of CO2 would warm until 2075

A ton of methane emitted today will exert more warming in one year than a ton of CO2 emitted today would exert until 2075.

In the article “Methane controls before risky geoengineering, please“, UC Berkeley’s Dr, Kirk Smith writes:

“A tonne of methane eventually turns to 2.75 extra tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere. Even without taking this into consideration, a tonne of methane emitted today will exert more annual warming than a tonne of CO2 emitted today until 2075. Not until the year 7300 will the cumulative warming exerted by the two become equal. It is truly carbon on steroids.”

It is therefore clear that methane reduction is a vital strategy in rapid climate change mitigation.

Source: Methane controls before risky geoengineering, please – Dr Kirk Smith New Scientist Magazine – article preview – GoodPlanet.info – full article

Date: 25 June 2009

Source: Global warming in the twenty-first century: An alternative scenario NASA site – abbreviated version – Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) – full article

Date: 2001