GWP* Better Captures the Impact of Methane's Warming Potential

Understanding the differences in the way CO2 vs methane behaves is fundamental to understanding their respective roles impacting climate change, and personal and policy decisions related to mitigating future warming. A practical example, properly accounting for these differences, the global impact of U.S. beef consumption (or other ruminant food sources) over time in terms of carbon footprint (related to enteric emissions) could be even less than previously understood. Understanding this can help direct attention to those areas where we can make the biggest difference in terms impacting climate change.

 From:

 Allen, M.R., Shine, K.P., Fuglestvedt, J.S. et al. A solution to the misrepresentations of CO2-equivalent emissions of short-lived climate pollutants under ambitious mitigation. npj Clim Atmos Sci 1, 16 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41612-018-0026-8


"While shorter-term goals for emission rates of individual gases and broader metrics encompassing emissions’ co-impacts2,6,31 remain potentially useful in defining how cumulative contributions will be achieved, summarising commitments using a metric that accurately reflects their contributions to future warming would provide greater transparency in the implications of global climate agreements as well as enabling fairer and more effective design of domestic policies and measures."

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-018-0026-8#Sec1

See also:

A Green New Deal for Agriculture?

Religiousity, Beef, and the Environment

EconTalk: Matt Ridley, Martin Weitzman, Climate Change and Fat Tails

Hybrid Corn vs. Hybrid Cars

Welfare Analysis: Just Do It!