College Honors Program

From Carbon Dioxide to Methane: Reframing the Fight Against Climate Change

Date of Creation

5-31-2023

Document Type

Campus Access Only

First Advisor

Daina Cheyenne Harvey

Abstract

As climate change has progressed, the international community has failed to implement effective policy or law initiatives that aim to combat and prevent the devastating effects global warming will have on our international system. Currently, the Paris Climate Agreement is the most significant piece of international legislation that directly addresses climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions are at the center of every conversation surrounding climate change, and the Paris Agreement reflects that. However, methane has a higher Global Warming Potential, revealing an opportunity to reduce global warming that wouldn’t necessarily require such drastic changes in the global economic system. Carbon dioxide does pose a unique problem in that it stays in the atmosphere longer than methane, but this means that big reductions in methane emissions immediately would have a more dramatic effect in the short term. The largest sources of global methane emissions come from mining, agriculture, and natural gas. This study will examine each of these sources through the lenses of three major actors that have the capacity to lead an initiative to reduce methane emissions in the international order: Australia, Canada, and the United States.

Comments

Reader: Loren Cass

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