Christian Hunt
26.06.2012 | 4:00pm
ScienceCutting methane emissions could give us an extra decade to deal with climate change
SCIENCE | June 26. 2012. 16:00
Cutting methane emissions could give us an extra decade to deal with climate change
Could cutting methane emissions now could give us an extra decade in which to reduce carbon dioxide emissions? That’s the conclusion of Peter Cox, a professor of climate system dynamics at Exeter University, who outlines why in this recent TEDx talk.
Cox believes we could “feasibly” cut manmade methane emissions by 40%. Because methane is what he calls a “sensitive control” on the total amount of carbon dioxide we can emit in the future while staying below a certain amount of global warming, that could provide more time to undertake the challenging task of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
Here’s the talk, which builds on a research paper Cox co-authored back in 2010: