The UN on November 11 announced a new satellite-based system to detect emissions of the climate warming gas and allow governments and businesses to respond.
About Methane Alert and Response System (MARS)
- The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), launched at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-27), is a data-to-action platform set up as part of the UNEP International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) strategy to get policy-relevant data into the right hands for emissions mitigation.
- Developed in the framework of the Global Methane Pledge Energy Pathway – with initial funding from the European Commission, the US Government, Global Methane Hub, and the Bezos Earth Fund – MARS will allow UNEP to corroborate emissions reported by companies and characterize changes over time.
- MARS will be implemented with partners including the International Energy Agency, and the UNEP-hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition.
- MARS will be the first publicly available global system capable of transparently connecting methane detection to notification processes. It will use state-of-the-art satellite data to identify major emission events, notify relevant stakeholders, and support and track mitigation progress.
- MARS will track the large point emission sources, mainly in the fossil fuel industry, but with time, would be able to detect emissions from coal, waste, livestock and rice fields as well.
About Methane
- Methane is the second-most common of the six major greenhouse gases, but is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide in its potential to cause global warming.
- Accounting for about 17 per cent of the current global greenhouse gas emissions, methane is blamed for having caused at least 25 to 30 per cent of temperature rise since the pre-industrial times.
- Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is largely a sectoral gas, and there are only a few sources of emission.
- It is possible, therefore, to cut down on methane emissions without having widespread impact on the economy.
- Because its global warming potential is about 80 times that of carbon dioxide, a reduction in methane emissions also brings big benefits in a short time.
Global Methane Pledge
- At the Glasgow climate conference in 2021 (COP26), nearly 100 countries had come together in a voluntary pledge — now referred to as the Global Methane Pledge — to cut methane emissions by at least 30 per cent by 2030 from the 2020 levels.
- More countries have joined in this initiative since then, bringing the total to nearly 130. China, Russia and India, also top-five methane emitters, have not signed on to the pledge.
- A 30 per cent reduction in methane emissions by 2030 is expected to result in avoiding 0.2 degree rise in temperature by the year 2050, and is considered absolutely essential in the global efforts to keep the temperature increase below the 1.5 degree Celsius target.
