China is often criticised for its emissions of carbon dioxide, which dwarf those of other countries. By way of defence, Chinese leaders can at least point to their official goal of having those emissions peak by 2030. But China is also the world’s biggest emitter of methane, another greenhouse gas. It produces about 14% of global emissions each year. When it comes to methane, Chinese leaders have less to say in their defence. They are just starting to grapple with the problem.
Methane is responsible for nearly 45% of the increase in the Earth’s temperature since the Industrial Revolution. Cutting emissions of the gas is a promising way to slow global warming because it remains in the atmosphere for just a decade, so might soon be gone. Carbon dioxide, in contrast, lingers for over a century.
China has two big sources of methane emissions. The first is coal mining, which accounts for 40% of such discharges. The process liberates the gas from coal seams. Miners then vent it (and other gases) directly into the atmosphere. Abandoned mines, of which China has around 12,000, leak methane as well. The second big source is farms. Cows belch methane. Microbes in rice paddies produce it, too.
In November officials published an “action plan” for dealing with the gas. It aims to improve the monitoring of emissions by using drones and satellites. These are necessary steps because much of the stuff enters the atmosphere unnoticed. In 2019 researchers at Harvard University used satellite data to measure China’s methane emissions. They reached a figure a fifth higher than the government’s estimate.
Now officials look set to go a step further. The government has proposed tightening the rules on emissions from coal mines. They are currently allowed to vent gases that are less than 30% methane. The new draft regulations would lower that number to 8%. Mining companies would have to install equipment to capture gases with higher concentrations.
But even according to the government’s own data (which do not include leaks from abandoned mines) the new venting rules would lead to only a 7% reduction in methane emissions from the coal-mining sector. Compare that with the “Global Methane Pledge” signed by 150-odd countries. It calls for methane emissions to be cut by 30% from 2020 levels by the end of the decade. China is not a signatory.
To really make a dent in emissions, China would have to dig up much less coal, says Sun Xiaopu of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, a think-tank in America. It would also have to make changes to the way farms are managed. Fewer cows would help. And rice paddies could be irrigated for shorter periods, giving bacteria less time to grow.
Such moves seem unlikely, though. In the minds of Chinese officials, energy and food security trump climate concerns. China has lots of solar panels and wind turbines, but coal still supplies over half of its energy, because it is reliable. In fact, China is opening more coal mines. It also plans to expand its stock of cattle. Little wonder, then, that it has not committed to a hard target for reducing methane emissions.
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