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Environment & Climate vocabulary · Emissions and Carbon

Methane

Meaning in environment & climate, with examples

/ˈmeθeɪn/nounCore term

In environment & climate, methane means: A strong greenhouse gas (CH4) released by livestock, rice fields, landfills, coal mines and oil and gas operations. It traps much more heat than CO2 but stays in the air for only about 12 years.

In Turkish: metan, CH4

How it is used

Over 20 years it is about 80 times as powerful as CO2, so cutting methane is seen as the fastest way to slow warming in the near term. Common phrases: methane emissions, methane leaks, methane abatement, the Global Methane Pledge. Natural gas is mostly methane.

Example sentences

  1. Satellite data showed large methane leaks from the pipeline.

  2. Capturing methane at the landfill both cuts emissions and produces energy.

Common collocations

  • methane emissions
  • methane leaks
  • reduce methane
  • methane abatement
  • Global Methane Pledge
  • greenhouse gasA gas in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide, that traps heat from the sun and warms the Earth's surface.
  • landfillA site where waste is buried in the ground in a controlled way, usually with a lining and systems to collect leachate and landfill gas.
  • CO2eShort for carbon dioxide equivalent: a unit that expresses the warming effect of different greenhouse gases as the amount of CO2 that would cause the same warming.
  • carbon dioxideA colorless gas, written CO2, released when coal, oil, gas, wood and other carbon-based materials burn. It is the main greenhouse gas produced by human activities.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Emissions and Carbon

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