- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
Methane rising faster than other greenhouse gases: researchers
Concentrations in the atmosphere of the powerful greenhouse gas methane are rising at an accelerating pace, threatening efforts by countries to meet their climate targets, researchers warned on Tuesday.
"Methane is rising faster in relative terms than any major greenhouse gas and is now 2.6-fold higher than in pre-industrial times," said an international group of researchers under the aegis of the Global Carbon Project in a study published in Environmental Research Letters.
Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas produced by human activity after carbon dioxide, with agriculture, energy production and organic waste rotting in landfills the major sources.
In the first 20 years, its impact on the atmosphere is about 80 times more powerful that of carbon dioxide but it breaks down more quickly than CO2.
That opens a possibility to sharply reduce climate impact in the short term. But the researchers found that despite efforts to cut methane emissions, atmospheric concentrations of the gas are still rising.
- Rising in most countries -
An average of 6.1 million tonnes of methane were added to atmosphere per year in the 2000s.
That rose to 20.9 million tonnes per year in the 2010s. It hit 41.8 million tonnes in 2020.
"Anthropogenic (human-made) emissions have continued to increase in almost every other country in the world, with the exception of Europe and Australia, which show a slow declining trend," Global Carbon Project executive director Pep Canadell, one of the study's co-authors, told AFP.
The largest increases have come from China and southeast Asia and have been primarily linked to coal extraction, oil and gas production and landfills, the researchers found.
The La Nina weather phenomenon has also led to an increase in methane from natural sources, they said.
A drop in nitrogen oxides pollution in 2020, when use of transport plunged due to the Covid-19 pandemic, had a paradoxical impact. It is key in preventing methane from accumulating in the atmosphere.
- 'Mirage' -
Rising methane pollution is undermining efforts to keep the Earth's average temperature from rising by more than 2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
A "Global Methane Pledge" was launched in 2021 by the European Union and United States to cut global methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels, by the cutoff date of 2030.
More than 150 countries have signed up -- but not China, India or Russia.
"Right now, the goals of the Global Methane Pledge seem as distant as a desert oasis," said lead author of the Environmental Research Letters paper, Stanford University scientist Rob Jackson.
"We all hope they aren't a mirage."
China and the United States are preparing to host a summit on greenhouse gasses other than CO2 later this year, potentially raising the prospect of further pledges by governments.
F.Bennett--AMWN