Surging methane emissions imperil climate goals

A decade-long surge of the potent greenhouse gas methane threatens to make the fight against global warming even harder, top researchers warned Monday. "Additional attention is urgently needed to quantify and reduce methane emissions," they wrote in the Environmental Research Letters journal, summarising the findings of a consortium of 81 scientists. "Keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) is already a challenging target," they said, referring to the goal set in the 196-nation Paris climate pact, which entered into force last month.