Methane; slashing this damaging pollutant from oil and gas, waste systems, coal mines, and more, offers one of the fastest climate wins available.
Preventing
Preventing methane emissions is one of the fastest ways we can slow Earth from overheating right now. Methane isn’t just a damaging waste product. It is also a valuable commodity that is marketed as “natural gas,” which is produced alongside oil. When it leaks into the atmosphere, however, methane massively traps heat and warms our planet at an accelerated rate.
Methane was discovered in Italy 250 years ago due to bubbles arising from marshes. When collected and ignited, methane lit on fire and was initially called “swamp gas.” Although methane (chemical name CH4) has been steadily present in the Earth’s atmosphere at low levels for tens of thousands of years, its volume has increased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution due to increased fossil fuel use, agricultural expansion, and landfill development. In 2025, methane levels were at the highest ever recorded.
This increase in methane accounts for a roughly 0.5°C increase in global temperature, or nearly 30 percent of “forced” or human-made warming to date, which makes tackling methane pollution a pressing climate concern.
What makes methane so dangerous?
While carbon dioxide acts like a heat-trapping blanket around our planet, methane acts like an electric blanket with much more warming power. Methane has a lifetime of about a decade before it reacts to form other climate gases. Over a 20-year span, methane is over 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet. As methane and other greenhouse gases build up at today’s elevated levels, their “blanketing” effect traps far too much heat. The greater the buildup, the greater the risk of life-threatening, property damaging, and costly extreme weather, wildfires, flooding, and other harms.
As well as being a climate concern, methane also causes substantial problems on the ground. Methane contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, known as smog. Methane is also co-emitted with deadly contaminants and air toxins that kill and sicken people near where it is released. For example, benzene, a known carcinogen, can accompany methane when gas leaks from wells, flares, tanks, pipelines, chemical plants, and furnaces. Deadly hydrogen sulfide can be co-emitted with methane from oil and gas wells. And super-emitting methane sources that are present in very large volumes can explode and cause fires.
LEARN MORE About Methane Gas Production and Abatement
Originally published February 27, 2026 By Colm Quinn
