methane ammonium molecule 3D render

Managing Methane for a Livable Climate Future

Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) that is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame. While methane lasts only 12 years in the atmosphere, it does vast climate damage as soon as it is emitted.

Cutting methane emissions can deliver measurable climate benefits in this decisive decade. RMI's Climate Intelligence Program is developing analytic tools and engaging with public, private, and nonprofit stakeholders to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector and the waste sector — which together are responsible for about half of this potent climate pollutant.

Recent Research

Methane is concentrated in a few sectors

 

 

RMI is making emissions visible and using climate intelligence to reduce methane leakage.

 

Resources

Key Strategies for Mitigating Methane Emissions from Municipal Solid Waste

Report

Learn More
Which Gas Will Europe Import Now? The Choice Matters to the Climate

Article

Learn More
Making the Invisible, Visible: Methane Solutions Offer Down Payment on our Climate Future

Article

Learn More
Founding a Federal Emissions Center

Article

Learn More
How Monitoring Methane Can Help Countries Deliver Emissions Reductions

Article

Learn More
Russia is Heating Up—Cutting Methane from Oil and Gas is the Cure

Article

Learn More

Initiatives

Managing Methane in the Waste Sector

What happens to your household waste after disposal? Food waste and other organic household materials like paper, wood, yard waste, and sewage sludge often wind up in landfills, where they decompose to produce landfill gas (LFG), comprising primarily methane and carbon dioxide. Much of the world’s attention on curbing methane emissions has focused on the oil and gas sector. However, in 2020, the waste sector—municipal solid waste and wastewater—accounted for almost 20 percent of all human-related methane emissions—the third largest source globally, after enteric fermentation, and oil and gas. The waste sector has a clear and urgent need for decarbonization strategies that swiftly reduce emissions.

Learn More
Oil & Gas Solutions Initiative

The scientific consensus is clear: swift and decisive action is needed to stabilize the planet at 1.5oC. This calls for immediate reductions in oil and gas sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including methane—an extremely potent GHG that constitutes a major share of oil and gas industry emissions. To meet this critical climate goal, RMI is ingesting and analyzing timely, transparent, and trusted data to catalyze climate-informed decisions by companies, investors, policymakers, NGOs, and consumers.

Learn More
Climate Trace

Climate TRACE monitors human-caused GHG emissions using cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, novel modeling, and satellite image processing—bringing unprecedented transparency to global carbon pollution. Insights curated from Climate TRACE make it possible for anyone, anywhere, to make better decisions to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Learn More
Carbon Mapper

Carbon Mapper is a first-of-its-kind satellite enterprise that is a consortium of public, private, philanthropic, and nonprofit organizations including RMI.

Learn More
MiQ

MiQ has pioneered the use of independently certified gas (ICG) to provide the data needed to drive change on global methane emissions.

Learn More