Clean air policies that have an involuntary impact moving methane emissions in wetlands with up to 34 million tonnes – Eurasia Review

Reduction of sulfur in the air may inadvertently increase the natural emissions of methane from wetlands such as peat zones and marshes, a new study is being established.

The findings published today in the magazine Science is progressing suggests that the decline in global sulfur emissions as a result of clean air policies, combined with the effects of warming and fertilization of carbon dioxide emissions, raises a lid on the production of methane in wetlands, leading to increased emissions.

The additional future release of 20-34 million tonnes of methane every year from natural damp zones would mean targets to reduce human emissions should be stricter than currently indicated in the global methane bet.

Methane, which is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases in the capture of heat into the atmosphere, is produced in wetlands around the world. Sulfur (in the form of sulfate) has a very specific effect in natural wetlands that reduces methane emissions while CO₂Increases the production of methane by increasing the growth of plants that make food for methane germs.

Professor Vincent Gauchi of the University of Birmingham and a senior study author said:

“Good – -wealthy policies aimed at reducing atmospheric sulfur seems to have the unforeseen consequence of lifting this” lid “of sulfur on the production of methane in wetlands. This combined with enlarged Co₂ It means we have a double effect of Whammy, which pushes emissions much higher.

“How did this happen? To put it simply, sulfur provides the conditions of one set of bacteria to exceed another set of germs that produce methane when competing over the limited food available in the wetlands. In the face of acid rain, this was sufficient to reduce methane emissions in wetlands by up to 8%.

“Now that clean air policies have been introduced, the unfortunate consequence of reducing sulfur delay, which has important and welcome effects for world ecosystems, is that we will have to work much more cheerful than we were going to stay within the course of The safe climate set of restrictions in the Paris Agreement. “

More than 150 countries have registered for the global methane bet at COP26 in Glasgow, which seeks to reduce methane emissions caused by humans by 30% relative to the baseline in 2020, by 2030.

The study is the most native, which implies a decrease in atmospheric sulfur when warming at faster speed than expected. In 2020, shipping pollution controls were introduced to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions and fine particles that are harmful to human health. This reduction in atmospheric sulfur over the oceans is involved in the greater warming, which is expected in what is known as the “shock to terminate”.

Leading author of the newspaper Lu Shen of Beijing University said:

“Our study points to the complexity of the air -conditioning system. The presentation of these complex biogeochemical interactions has not previously been well integrated into assessments of future methane emissions. We show that it is essential to look at these reviews in order to gain a true understanding of the likely future of this important greenhouse gas. “