Mitigating Agricultural Methane Emissions

Increased natural methane emissions make the Global Methane Pledge’s goal of cutting the total atmospheric methane burden harder to achieve. Methane’s 2020-2022 surge has faded, but current growth is still rapid. Cutting emissions is feasible: rapid advances are being made in direct practical methods to quantify and reduce agricultural methane emissions worldwide [Nisbet et al. 2025. Practical paths towards quantifying and mitigating agricultural methane emissions. Proc Royal Soc A 481]. Location, identification, quantification, and distinction between different specific sources are all becoming better, though often multiple emitters such as manure pools, animal housing, biodigesters and landfills are co-located. Top targets include cutting emissions from manure stores, biodigesters, and waste. In some cases agricultural methane can be used to generate electricity.  New technology may make it possible to destroy methane in livestock barns. Emissions from crop waste and food waste in heaps and landfills, a major source of air pollution in Africa and South Asia, can be sharply and quickly reduced. Controlling biomass burning is an urgent priority in South Asia and tropical Africa, where rural crop waste burning is widespread, despite the damaging impact on public health. To date, tropical countries have paid little attention to methane, but they have the skills and resources to make significant reductions in agricultural emissions.