Methane is responsible for over 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions but is often overlooked.
The major difference from CO2 is that while CO2 stays in the atmosphere for centuries capturing a small amount of heat consistently, methane has a short but powerful life. Methane absorbs nearly 80x more heat than CO2, but is short-lived lasting less than 20 years. This means that large reductions of its emission would have a rapid impact on climate change.
The International Energy Agency estimates we could reduce methane emissions from oil and gas by 75% by 2030 using existing technology. And 40% could be basically free economically.
The main human-caused sources of methane emissions are: agriculture, especially cows digestion but also rice fields, oil & gas (leaks of gas from pipes, leaks for safety reasons, incomplete gas flaring).
Startups are tackling this segment from space tech satellites detecting major methane emission sources & gas leaks, to feed additives to reduce cows methane emissions, to gas flaring and much more.