Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.<\/p>\n
Cutting emissions would deliver rapid, tangible climate benefits, with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP<\/a>) reporting that cutting human-caused emissions by around half is one of the most cost-effective ways to slow climate change in the near term.<\/p>\n In 2022 UNEP launched a\u00a0satellite tracking system<\/a> to detect unintentional methane leaks from the oil and gas sectors.<\/p>\n \u2018Bending the curve\u2019 on emissions<\/p>\n Known as MARS (the Methane Alert and Response System) it provides free, accurate information about emissions \u2013 which are odourless, invisible and therefore hard to spot \u2013 so that companies and national authorities can act on them.<\/p>\n According to the latest edition of UNEP\u2019s International Methane Observatory<\/a>\u00a0publication<\/a> released on Wednesday, the number of alerts leading to action rose from one per cent to 12 per cent in the past year.<\/p>\n The agency says more action is needed to achieve the goal of curbing a third of methane emissions by 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cReducing methane emissions can quickly bend the curve on global warming, buying more time for long-term decarbonisation efforts,\u201d says Inger Andersen, head of UNEP: \u201cBut the important progress on reporting must translate into cuts\u00a0to emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n A steely response<\/p>\n