“It is one of the gases that we can reduce more quickly,” underlined the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, along with the US president, Joe Biden, recalling that this is responsible for “about 30%” of accumulated global warming since the industrial revolution.
Effect
Methane (CH4) has a greenhouse effect 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) and its sources, such as open-cast coal mines and livestock, have received relatively little attention so far.
The pledge was signed by a hundred nations and Biden called for “more countries to join.” But despite the leadership of the United States and the European Union and the inclusion of large beef cattle producers such as Brazil and Argentina, these countries only account for 40% of global methane emissions.
In this regard, experts highlighted the absences of China, India and Russia, three of the five largest emitters on the planet, and especially the latter country, a gas extraction giant, with a high percentage of methane leaks in its distribution pipelines to Europe .
“The announcement does not reach the 45% reduction that, according to the UN, is necessary to keep global warming below + 1.5ºC,” lamented Murray Worthy, head of the NGO Global Witness.
Argentina joined the promise by emphasizing “the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities” between developed countries, responsible for the vast majority of emissions in the last century, and developing countries.
objective
Canceled last year due to the pandemic, the COP26’s mission is to develop the 2015 Paris Agreement, which set the main objective of limiting global warming to + 1.5ºC.
However, the negotiations are announced complicated.
“There is still a long way to go,” warned British Prime Minister and host of the conference, Boris Johnson, declaring himself “cautiously optimistic” as leaders begin to leave Glasgow and pass testimony to negotiators, who will have to find solutions to issues. very divisive as the functioning of the complex carbon market.
Seeking momentum, heads of state and government promised not only to emit less gas, but also to absorb more by slowing and reversing deforestation and land degradation by 2030.
“Our forests are also nature’s way of capturing carbon, pulling CO2 out of our atmosphere,” said Biden.
“We have to address this issue with the same seriousness as the decarbonization of our economies,” he added.
Environmental groups denounced the end of deforestation in 2030 as too late and Greenpeace called it a “green light for another decade of forest destruction.”
According to the NGO Global Forest Watch, only in 2020 the destruction of primary forests increased by 12% compared to the previous year despite the economic depression caused by the pandemic. Only in Brazil, the cradle of the largest lung on the planet, was there a 9.5% increase in greenhouse gas emissions.
In this context, from Brazil to China, passing through Russia, Indonesia or the Democratic Republic of Congo, the leaders of more than one hundred countries, which account for 85% of the world’s forests, signed the so-called Glasgow Declaration yesterday.
Source From: Ambito
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