Agricultural methane and its role as a greenhouse gas

Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) foodsource is a collection of resources explaining the ideas and issues at the forefront of food system sustainability and how they all interconnect. Within this FCRN are providing a series called building blocks that provide accessible introductions to the most important ideas for understanding food system sustainability. Each building block is reviewed by subject experts and includes key definitions, a clear explanation of the idea, and links to curated resources for further learning.

The latest building block provides an overview of methane, and addresses some common areas of confusion, covering:

  • What is methane and how does it affect the climate?
  • Where do methane emissions come from?
  • What happens to these methane emissions?
  • How has agriculture contributed to recent increases in atmospheric methane?
  • What does all this mean for how we consider methane emissions, particularly in relation to carbon dioxide (CO2)

 

Read the Building Block online
 

This building block was written by John Lynch, a post-doctoral researcher from LEAP, who's research focuses on the climate impacts of livestock production.

 

Other building blocks include: EfficiencyFood loss and Food waste, the Nutrition Transition, the Land Sparing-Land Sharing ContinuumMalnutrition, and Sustainable Intensification.