Methane in the atmosphere had its fourth-highest annual increase in 2022, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported, part of an overall rise in planet-warming greenhouse gases that the agency called “alarming.”
Though carbon dioxide typically gets more attention for its role in climate change, scientists are particularly concerned about methane because it traps much more heat — about 87 times more than carbon dioxide on a 20-year timescale.
Manish Swarup, Associated Press
A person picks through trash for reusable items as a fire rages at the Bhalswa landfill April 27 in New Delhi.
Methane, a gas emitted from sources including landfills, oil and natural gas systems and livestock, has increased particularly quickly since 2020. Scientists say it shows no sign of slowing despite urgent calls from scientists and policymakers who say time is running out to meet warming limits in the Paris Agreement and avoid the most destructive impacts of climate change.
“The observations collected by NOAA scientists in 2022 show that greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at an alarming pace and will persist in the atmosphere for thousands of years,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement accompanying the report. “The time is now to address greenhouse gas pollution and to lower human-caused emissions as we continue to build toward a climate-ready nation.”
Methane rose by 14 parts per billion to 1,911.9 ppb in 2022. It rose slightly faster in 2020 (15.20 ppb) and 2021 (17.75 ppb).
Michael Probst, Associated Press
Cows stand in a meadow in Wehrheim on Nov. 4, 2022, near Frankfurt, Germany. Rising methane levels in the atmosphere in 2022 again played a big part in an overall increase in the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, according to the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Methane gas leaks from wells and natural gas lines and wafts from manure ponds, decomposing landfills, and directly from livestock.
“Ruminant animal herds like goats, sheep, and cows in particular are one of the largest human-driven sources of methane,” said Stephen Porder, a professor of ecology and assistant provost for sustainability at Brown University.
Scientists continue to discover that methane emissions from both the fossil fuels industry and the environment are largely underestimated.
“We are confident that over half of the methane emissions are coming from human activities like oil and gas extraction, agriculture, waste management, and landfills,” said Benjamin Poulter, NASA research scientist.
The exact amounts of methane that have come from human activity versus natural environments over the past few years is not currently known, but scientists say that humans have little control over ecosystems that start emitting more methane due to warming.
“If this rapid rise is wetlands and natural systems responding to climate change, then that’s very frightening because we can’t do much to stop it,” said Drew Shindell, Duke University professor and former climate scientist at NASA. “If methane leaks from the fossil fuels sector, then we can make regulations. But we can’t make regulations on what swamps do.”
Scientists are also investigating how the stubborn three-year La Nina pattern could have influenced methane emissions due to higher levels of rainfall in tropical wetlands.
Laurent Cipriani, Associated Press
The Feyzin oil refinery is seen Nov. 7, 2022, near Lyon, central France.
Shindell said methane emissions caused by humans account for about 26% of the warming caused by human activities.
Porder said transitioning away from fossil fuels and reducing the number of ruminant animals being raised are “sure-fire ways to reduce methane in the atmosphere and limit warming.”
The International Energy Agency estimates that 70% of 2022’s methane emissions could be reduced with existing technology.
The NOAA report also said carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide saw significant growth in 2022.
Carbon dioxide levels rose to to 417.06 ppm in 2022 and is now 50% higher than pre-industrial levels. Nitrous oxide, which NOAA stated is the third-most significant greenhouse gas emitted by humans, rose to 335.7 ppb, largely due to fertilizers and manure from the expanding agriculture sector.
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A flare burns off methane and other hydrocarbons as oil pumpjacks operate in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A flare burns off methane and other hydrocarbons as oil pumpjacks operate in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Patches of land housing oil pumpjacks dot the landscape of the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Carbon Mapper, a partnership of university researchers and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, documented massive amounts of methane venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border that a billion years ago was the bottom of a shallow sea. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Patches of land housing oil pumpjacks dot the landscape of the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Carbon Mapper, a partnership of university researchers and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, documented massive amounts of methane venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border that a billion years ago was the bottom of a shallow sea. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Well site supervisor Jason Brown looks out toward the Permian Basin from the control room of Latshaw oil drilling rig #43 in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The constant need for skilled workers drives blue-collar incomes that can easily reach six figures a year, supporting spouses and children who often live hundreds of miles away. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Well site supervisor Jason Brown looks out toward the Permian Basin from the control room of Latshaw oil drilling rig #43 in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The constant need for skilled workers drives blue-collar incomes that can easily reach six figures a year, supporting spouses and children who often live hundreds of miles away. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Forehand Kory Mercantel works on Latshaw drilling rig #43 in the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The Permian is the top oil and gas producing region in the United States. On any given day, about 500 rigs are drilling new wells within the basin to boost production. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Forehand Kory Mercantel works on Latshaw drilling rig #43 in the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The Permian is the top oil and gas producing region in the United States. On any given day, about 500 rigs are drilling new wells within the basin to boost production. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
The Texas state flag flies above workers at Latshaw oil drilling rig #43 in the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. More than 5,000 new well-drilling permits were issued in the Texas portion of the Permian in 2021, as demand for fossil fuels rebounded after a COVID-era slump in demand. Numbers from the first quarter of 2022 show the industry on pace to eclipse that figure. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
The Texas state flag flies above workers at Latshaw oil drilling rig #43 in the Permian Basin in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. More than 5,000 new well-drilling permits were issued in the Texas portion of the Permian in 2021, as demand for fossil fuels rebounded after a COVID-era slump in demand. Numbers from the first quarter of 2022 show the industry on pace to eclipse that figure. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A lone plant grows from the dry soil next to a flare burning off methane and other hydrocarbons in the Permian Basin in Pecos, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The accumulation of carbon dioxide and methane in the blanket of gases encircling the Earth is holding more heat in. And there is now nearly three times as much methane in the air than there was before industrial times. The year 2021 saw the worst single increase ever. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A lone plant grows from the dry soil next to a flare burning off methane and other hydrocarbons in the Permian Basin in Pecos, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The accumulation of carbon dioxide and methane in the blanket of gases encircling the Earth is holding more heat in. And there is now nearly three times as much methane in the air than there was before industrial times. The year 2021 saw the worst single increase ever. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A cow walks through a field as an oil pumpjack and a flare burning off methane and other hydrocarbons stand in the background in the Permian Basin in Jal, N.M., Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A cow walks through a field as an oil pumpjack and a flare burning off methane and other hydrocarbons stand in the background in the Permian Basin in Jal, N.M., Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Pipes sit in a cotton field waiting to be installed for new oil pipelines in Lenorah, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. The frenetic search for more gas and oil is happening just as President Biden and world leaders are promising to cut methane emissions across the world. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Pipes sit in a cotton field waiting to be installed for new oil pipelines in Lenorah, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. The frenetic search for more gas and oil is happening just as President Biden and world leaders are promising to cut methane emissions across the world. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A crop dusting plane flies over a field next to an oil well in the Permian Basin in Lenorah, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Methane emissions are notoriously hard to track because they are intermittent. An old well may be wafting methane one day, but not the next. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A crop dusting plane flies over a field next to an oil well in the Permian Basin in Lenorah, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Methane emissions are notoriously hard to track because they are intermittent. An old well may be wafting methane one day, but not the next. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
In this photo made with an Optical Gas Imaging thermal camera, a plume of heat from a flare burning off methane and other hydrocarbons is detected in the background next to an oil pumpjack as a cow walks through a field in the Permian Basin in Jal, N.M., Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
In this photo made with an Optical Gas Imaging thermal camera, a plume of heat from a flare burning off methane and other hydrocarbons is detected in the background next to an oil pumpjack as a cow walks through a field in the Permian Basin in Jal, N.M., Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Motorman Danny Perez, right, and forehand Kory Mercantel, work on Latshaw oil drilling rig #43 in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. Most rigs run day and night, with crews of roughnecks rotating in 12-hour shifts. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Motorman Danny Perez, right, and forehand Kory Mercantel, work on Latshaw oil drilling rig #43 in Odessa, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. Most rigs run day and night, with crews of roughnecks rotating in 12-hour shifts. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A resident sits by the pool at the Ocean Front RV Resort in Kermit, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The oil and gas boom has led to the creation of "man camps," where workers and sometimes their families live in sprawling tracts of temporary housing in the middle of the desert. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A resident sits by the pool at the Ocean Front RV Resort in Kermit, Texas, Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. The oil and gas boom has led to the creation of "man camps," where workers and sometimes their families live in sprawling tracts of temporary housing in the middle of the desert. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Tristan Yperman, 37, holds her son, Grant, 1, in the makeshift yard outside their RV at the Ocean Front RV Resort in Kermit, Texas, Oct. 13, 2021. Yperman’s husband is an engineer with a construction contractor widening the highway into Kermit, a sleepy desert crossroads that has seen its population grow with the oil boom. They have been living in their RV they’ve named Freya for about a year and move around as his job dictates. Spots in the 291 space RV park go for $780 a month, $1,200 for a small one-room cabin. “We never really know where we go next,” said Yperman who is expecting their second child in March. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Tristan Yperman, 37, holds her son, Grant, 1, in the makeshift yard outside their RV at the Ocean Front RV Resort in Kermit, Texas, Oct. 13, 2021. Yperman’s husband is an engineer with a construction contractor widening the highway into Kermit, a sleepy desert crossroads that has seen its population grow with the oil boom. They have been living in their RV they’ve named Freya for about a year and move around as his job dictates. Spots in the 291 space RV park go for $780 a month, $1,200 for a small one-room cabin. “We never really know where we go next,” said Yperman who is expecting their second child in March. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Flares burn off methane and other hydrocarbons at an oil and gas facility in Lenorah, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Flares burn off methane and other hydrocarbons at an oil and gas facility in Lenorah, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Utility poles line a road through the Permian Basin in Mentone, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. The Permian, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border, was the bottom of a shallow sea a billion years ago. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Utility poles line a road through the Permian Basin in Mentone, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. The Permian, a 250-mile-wide bone-dry expanse along the Texas-New Mexico border, was the bottom of a shallow sea a billion years ago. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Cowboy hats hang on a deer head next to a portrait of John Wayne at Big John’s Feed Lot in Big Spring, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. At the burger and barbecue restaurant the parking lot was filled at lunchtime with gas-guzzling American-made pickup trucks. “Can you imagine anyone in here driving an electric car?” asked Brenda Stansel, the owner, who insisted Trump was still the rightful commander-in-chief. Asked if she believed in climate change, Stansel responded: “I believe in God.” (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Cowboy hats hang on a deer head next to a portrait of John Wayne at Big John’s Feed Lot in Big Spring, Texas, Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. At the burger and barbecue restaurant the parking lot was filled at lunchtime with gas-guzzling American-made pickup trucks. “Can you imagine anyone in here driving an electric car?” asked Brenda Stansel, the owner, who insisted Trump was still the rightful commander-in-chief. Asked if she believed in climate change, Stansel responded: “I believe in God.” (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A statue of Jesus stands next to graves in a cemetery beside an oil and gas facility in Pecos, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Oil was discovered here in 1921, and in the intervening century wildcatters have drilled more than a quarter million wells into the layer cake of shale rock under the desert, many more than a mile deep. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A statue of Jesus stands next to graves in a cemetery beside an oil and gas facility in Pecos, Texas, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. Oil was discovered here in 1921, and in the intervening century wildcatters have drilled more than a quarter million wells into the layer cake of shale rock under the desert, many more than a mile deep. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
A sign warns passing motorists that hitchhikers may be escaping inmates in Midland, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Centered around the boomtowns of Midland and Odessa, the Permian Basin is now the top oil and gas producing region in the United States, which in turn is the world’s No. 1 producer. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
A sign warns passing motorists that hitchhikers may be escaping inmates in Midland, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Centered around the boomtowns of Midland and Odessa, the Permian Basin is now the top oil and gas producing region in the United States, which in turn is the world’s No. 1 producer. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
Raylee Bothwell, 8, holds up her Minnie Mouse blanket in the wind while watching her first drive-in movie from the back of her family’s pickup truck in Midland, Texas., Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Centered around the boomtowns of Midland and Odessa, the Permian is now the top oil and gas producing region in the United States, which in turn is the world’s No. 1 producer. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
Raylee Bothwell, 8, holds up her Minnie Mouse blanket in the wind while watching her first drive-in movie from the back of her family’s pickup truck in Midland, Texas., Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. Centered around the boomtowns of Midland and Odessa, the Permian is now the top oil and gas producing region in the United States, which in turn is the world’s No. 1 producer. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
-
Massive methane leaks are spewing into the atmosphere. Who’s responsible?
David Goldman
An oil pumpjack operates under a partial moon in the Permian Basin in Stanton, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
David Goldman
An oil pumpjack operates under a partial moon in the Permian Basin in Stanton, Texas, Monday, Oct. 11, 2021. Massive amounts of methane are venting into the atmosphere from oil and gas operations across the Permian Basin, new aerial surveys show. The emission endanger U.S. targets for curbing climate change. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
