Methane

The Hidden Force Accelerating Climate Change

Methane is a naturally occurring gas, produced from the decomposition of organic materials. It is a potent greenhouse gas. Reducing methane emissions is critical to reducing the risk of dangerous climate change. Methane accounts for around 30 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Methane vs Carbon Dioxide

Carbon dioxide is the earth’s most important greenhouse gas. Release of carbon dioxide from human activities like combustion of fossil fuels and industrial processes accounts for around 76% of global greenhouse emissions, the biggest single driver of climate change.

Methane accounts for around 1% of total greenhouse gases but around 21% of global greenhouse emissions. Even though much less methane is emitted than carbon dioxide, methane is 84+ times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years of its emissions.

That’s because of methane’s ability to trap heat in the short term. Methane has a far greater warming potential in the short term, and methane entering the atmosphere right now is the fastest driver of global climate change.

The main sectors to reduce methane are waste management (landfills), agriculture (livestock) and energy (coal mining and gas). It is possible to efficiently and cost-effectively reduce methane emissions in many of these sectors. What is needed is government policy to accelerate this industrial-scale methane abatement.

Methane from Waste

The waste management industry is the most advanced sector in methane abatement. LMS Energy is a pioneer and world leader in capturing methane from landfills and using it to make renewable energy.

As Australia’s leading methane abatement company, LMS Energy reduces Australia’s emissions by more than 4 million tonnes every year. That’s the equivalent of taking 1.6 million cars off the road. LMS has helped transition Australia’s waste management sector into a world leader in methane abatement with the support of Government policy, most recently Australia’s Safeguard Mechanism.

Methane from Mining and Agriculture

LMS is developing new technologies to expand efficient and effective methane abatement into other sectors. In the agriculture sector, we are using agricultural feedstocks like abattoir waste to cut methane and produce renewable energy.

Through our carbon abatement company, Carbon Logica, we are developing methane avoidance projects for metallurgical coal mines.

These projects are helping to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors of the Australian economy and make a material contribution to Australia’s journey to net zero.