Reducing methane emissions from cattle and dairy farming
At COP26 this month, 105 countries including the US, Canada and Brazil promised to reduce their methane gas emissions by at least 30% within eight years. Methane traps eighty-four times more heat than carbon dioxide. The IPCC says that whilst being a short lived gas (12 years) and existing in small atmospheric quantities of only 2 parts per million, a cut in methane emissions has the greatest potential to slow climate warming over the next two decades. Agriculture contributes to 40-45% of these global methane emissions, largely arising from cattle and dairy farming.