Short- and long-term warming effects of methane may affect the cost-effectiveness of mitigation policies and benefits of low-meat diets

Methane’s short atmospheric life has important implications for the design of global climate change mitigation policies in agriculture. Three different agricultural economic models are used to explore how short- and long-term warming effects of methane can affect the cost-effectiveness of mitigation policies and dietary transitions. Results show that the choice of a particular metric for methane’s warming potential is key to determine optimal mitigation options, with metrics based on shorter-term impacts leading to greater overall emission reduction. Also, the promotion of low-meat diets is more effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to carbon pricing when mitigation policies are based on metrics that reflect methane’s long-term behaviour. A combination of stringent mitigation measures and dietary changes could achieve substantial emission reduction levels, helping reverse the contribution of agriculture to global warming.

Authors

PBL Authors
Elke Stehfest
Other authors
Ignacio Pérez-Domínguez
Agustin del Prado
Klaus Mittenzwei
Jordan Hristov
Stefan Frank
Andrzej Tabeau
Peter Witzke
Petr Havlik
Hans van Meijl
John Lynch
Guillermo Pardo
Jesus Barreiro-Hurle
Jason F. L. Koopman
María José Sanz-Sánchez

Specifications

Publication title
Short- and long-term warming effects of methane may affect the cost-effectiveness of mitigation policies and benefits of low-meat diets
Publication date
13 December 2021
Publication type
Article
Publication language
English
Magazine
Nature Food
Issue
Volume 2, pages 970–980 (2021)
Product number
4885