Global levels of the greenhouse gas methane had their biggest spike ever last year, according to researchers in Colorado. Methane is shorter-lived than carbon dioxide, also a greenhouse gas, yet it traps nearly 30 times more heat than CO2. Pictured: Cuadrilla extracting shale gas in East Sussex, EnglandWHAT IS METHANE GAS? In 2017 methane accounted for roughly 10 percent of all human-driven greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., according to the EPA. The U.N.'s recent Global Methane Report warned methane emissions must be cut by 45 percent to avoid avoid 0.3 degrees Celsius of global warming— and an 255,000 premature deaths—by the 2040s.

Source: Daily Mail May 19, 2021 22:50 UTC