Emission Matrix. Credit: Nature communication (2025). Doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56845-3
Companies around the world are reducing their total greenhouse gas footprints due to inconsistent accounting standards for methane emissions, finding a new study by researchers at UCL and Imperial College London.
New study, Published In Nature communicationIt was found that methane emissions are being equal to more than a decade between at least 170 million and 3.3 billion tons of carbon, depending on the metric used in the calculation of the deficiency.
This means that every year, on average, companies worldwide have underestimated their carbon footprints in 2022 as the UK annual carbon emissions. It represents an important methane emission interval that may be $ 1.6 billion (£ (£ (£ (£ (£ (£ (£)). 1.3 billion) and $ 40 billion (£ 32 billion) To repair.
Lead writer Dr. Simone Sensi (UCL Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resource) said, “The cumulative emission interval we have made in this work shows how important it is to standardize the reporting of methane emissions. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and The first step towards addressing its effect on climate properly is to ensure that it is properly responsible.
“Adopting global standard is easy for companies to principle because it essentially requires adjustment of some conversion factors when calculating its Greenhouse Gas footprint. However, it requires global coordination because companies require global coordination. Currently often subjected to fragmented rules. “
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming at comparable levels of carbon dioxide. Although methane is excreted in a very small amount than carbon dioxide, it is more efficient in implicating heat in the atmosphere. However, methane is also short -lived in the atmosphere, with only 10 years vs. 120 years old life for carbon dioxide.
How much hot heat a greenhouse gas mesh is called its global warming capacity (GWP) and is measured in cum2 The amount of equivalent units, or carbon dioxide gas which will cause the same amount of warming. Due to the short lifetime of methane, conversion to CO2 It is not straightforward and the debate remains that it is best to represent it in terms of carbon dioxide.
If the effect of methane is calculated more than 20 years (GWP-20), it is about 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as it is the time limit before most of it has been disintegrated. However, more than 100 years (GWP-100) methane has been broken, so it is only 28 times as powerful.
For companies that assess and report their greenhouse gas footprints, this lack of harmony can cause confusion and inaccuracy, as there is no legally binding guidance or consensus to use which standard to use.
In this study, researchers compiled and analyzed methane emissions from samples of 2,846 representative companies in a range of economic fields and countries. They found that the conversions used by companies are largely incompatible with the guidelines of most current carbon accounting standards that recommend the same GWP-100 MT as the latest inter-government panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report.
To see how much methane emissions can be reduced, the team replaced various accounting conversions of companies with the standard GWP-100 system suggested by the IPCC. In ten years from 2014 to 2023, methane emissions were reduced to equal to about 170 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.
When he harmonized all reporting for strict GWP-20 standard, some climatic scientists advocated and some were used in US courts, found that in the same decade, methane emissions have about 3.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide to methane emissions Was judged by reduced equal to.
The team also analyzed the economic cost of fixing underputed carbon footprints. Based on carbon prices from emission trading schemes worldwide, the total cost of $ 1.6 billion (£ 1.3 billion) for companies in ten years of study to align all global companies with GWP-100 standard, and About 40 billion dollars (£ (£ 1.3 billion). 32 billion) to align with strict GWP-20 standard. Companies in energy, utilities and material areas will face the biggest costs because they will face the biggest methane Industrial emitters.
The authors noted that even with their suggested reforms, the total methane emissions are still being underestimated, as their calculation was only focused on emissions produced directly by companies that they analyzed. Other downstream emissions, such as those who come from the products sold, were not involved, and are also significant contributions in the energy sector.
More information:
Simone seenasi et al, reporting standards of greenhouse gases and lack of harmony of methane emission intervals, Nature communication (2025). Doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-56845-3
Citation: Inconsistent reporting by companies underestimate the climate effect of methane, study (2025, 14 February) on 14 February 2025 https://pheys.org/news/news/2025-02-INCONSITENTENSISES-CONISES- Methane-LIMATE. HTML
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