Envirnment and Climate Change

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India co-chairs Global Methane Initiative

Context: Emission of methane is a big concern as it is a greenhouse gas having 25-28 times harmful effect than carbon dioxide.

Recently, India has co-chaired along with Canada the Global Methane Initiative leadership meet held virtually.

Need to focus on Methane

The emission of methane is a big concern as it is a greenhouse gas having 25-28 times harmful effect than carbon dioxide.
According to the UN, 25 % of the warming that the world is experiencing today is because of methane.
Methane is the second-most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, after carbon dioxide.
According to IPCC, methane accounts for about half of the 1.0 degrees Celsius net rise in global average temperature since the pre-industrial era.

About Methane

Methane is a greenhouse gas, which is also a component of natural gas.
There are various sources of methane including human and natural sources.
The anthropogenic sources are responsible for 60 per cent of global methane emissions.
It includes landfills, oil and natural gas systems, agricultural activities, coal mining, wastewater treatment, and certain industrial processes.
The oil and gas sectors are among the largest contributors to human sources of methane.
These emissions come primarily from the burning of fossil fuels, decomposition in landfills and the agriculture sector.

Global Methane Initiative (GMI)

GMI is a voluntary Government and an informal international partnership having members from 45 countries including the United States and Canada.
The forum has been created to achieve global reduction in anthropogenic methane emission through partnership among developed and developing countries having economies in transition.
The forum was created in 2004 and India is one of the members since its inception and has taken up Vice-Chairmanship for the first time in the Steering Leadership along with USA.
National governments are encouraged to join GMI as Partner Countries, while other non-State organizations may join GMI’s extensive Project Network.

Focus areas
The initiative currently focuses on five sectors, which are known sources of anthropogenic methane emissions: