While carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most well-known greenhouse gas, there are several others that are also driving global warming and altering the Earth’s climate. This blog post explores the roles of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and fluorinated greenhouse gases in exacerbating climate change. It discusses the sources, potency, and mitigation strategies for these lesser-known but highly impactful gases. Greenhouse gases and global warming are crucial topics to understand for anyone concerned about the future of our planet.
Number 2 Methane: Mediation
After CO2, the second most significant greenhouse gas produced by human activities is methane (CH4). Although about 40% of the methane is released from natural sources such as wetlands, almost 60% is linked to human activities (agriculture/ruminants and rice production, fossil fuels and waste). Over 20 years, methane has a warming power that is over 80 times greater than CO2 but shorter lifetime which makes it a significant lever for reducing global temperatures in the short term. “Reducing methane emissions “would have a strong short-term cooling effect, because atmospheric methane concentrations would drop quickly,”, said Mathijs Harmsen of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PBL. Instead, policies should “be aimed at the low hanging fruit, so the very low cost measures such as cutting down gas leaks”, he said. “Despite global commitments to a clean energy-driven reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions, not only are methane emissions rising but recent data suggest this source of pollution may be entering the atmosphere at an accelerated rate with respect to both historical records and carbon dioxide.”
Nitrous Oxide: The Other GHG No One Is Talking About
The third of the biggest greenhouse gases is nitrous oxide, or nitrous protoxide (N2O), which is nearly 300 times more potent than CO2. This is primarily from land due to the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and manure in agriculture. Nor are all the pollutants that enter our air harmful or wayside pollutants (the chemical industry, wastewater, fossil fuels) even from natural sources like the soil and oceans. One of the most significant studies, published in the journal Nature in 2020, concluded that elevation of global human-induced emissions has been dominated by nitrogen additions to croplands for four decades now. And it is the more intelligent use of fertilizers that holds the solution. ‘And in 2021, French scientist Philippe Ciais observed that controlling fertilizers on only five per cent of the world’s cropland would account for two thirds of N2O’s climate change mitigation’.
The Strong Suspects Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases
Examples of fluorinated greenhouse gases are PFCs, HFCs and SF 6 which can be found in fridges/freezers, heat pumps, air conditioning system or electrical networks. Their potent global warming potential is notable in very small amounts. SF6, used in electrical transformers for instance, has an impact 24,000 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year timeframe. Over 195 countries ratified the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which has succeeded in greatly depleting CFCs from the atmosphere, among other ozone-depleting fluorinated gases. Kigali agreement of 2016 which too envisaged the phase out of HFCs. Last year, the EU struck a deal to gradually end sales of F-gear (especially HFCs) that should extinguish them by 2050.
