The National Academies

10/02/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/02/2024 09:06

New Report Says U.S. Should Complete an Assessment of Need for Atmospheric Methane Removal in Next Few Years

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New Report Says U.S. Should Complete an Assessment of Need for Atmospheric Methane Removal in Next Few Years

News Release| October 2, 2024
WASHINGTON - A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine says the U.S. should pursue a two-phase approach to understand the need and potential for atmospheric methane removal that includes advancing priority research within three to five years - charting a path forward for research on this emerging technology. With the results from the recommended research, a second-phase assessment would more robustly evaluate the technical, economic, and broader social viability of atmospheric methane removal and its potential for climate-scale impacts.
Next to carbon dioxide, methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. Methane is short lived in the atmosphere and over 80 times more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat over a 20-year period. Together with reducing carbon dioxide emissions, large reductions in methane emissions are needed to limit warming and impacts from climate change - and yet, global methane emissions continue to rise each year.
Atmospheric methane removal would encompass human interventions to accelerate the conversion of methane in the atmosphere to a less radiatively potent form - or to physically remove methane from the atmosphere and store it elsewhere. Compared with methane mitigation or carbon dioxide removal, atmospheric methane removal is in its earliest stages of discovery, and information is limited.
"Since the concept of atmospheric methane removal is still very new, there are many research questions that need to be answered before we can fully assess the different technology approaches and under what conditions they could be feasible, viable, or desirable," said Gabrielle Dreyfus, chair of the committee that wrote the report and chief scientist at the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.
The report considered several potential use cases for research and development of atmospheric methane removal. For example, a technology gap exists in which no commercial mitigation technologies oxidize methane at concentrations below 1,000 parts per million (ppm), even though most methane emissions are found at concentrations closer to 2 ppm in the atmosphere. Research into atmospheric methane removal could lower this threshold and expand opportunities for reducing methane emissions from more sources, the report says. Another use case for considering atmospheric methane removal is the potential for the gap between the methane emissions reductions needed to meet climate goals and the technical potential for methane emissions mitigation.
The report emphasizes that reduced carbon dioxide and methane emissions are critical to limit warming. While the report recommends research into atmospheric methane removal technologies, it highlights that even if successfully developed, they are not a replacement for methane emissions mitigation.
"These are both technical and social research questions. Importantly, the research questions identified by the committee include foundational research that would help us better understand this technology, but also fill knowledge gaps in atmospheric chemistry, microbiology, material sciences, and social sciences, among others," continued Dreyfus. "The research agenda also calls out systems research questions to get at how these technologies would be shaped by, interact with, and have consequences for the public."

A Research Agenda for Atmospheric Methane Removal

The report recommends a two-phased approach to fully assess the potential for atmospheric methane removal. First, the report identifies priority foundational and systems research that should commence, with urgency, within one year. Based on the knowledge gained through research identified in this first phase within three to five years, a second-phase assessment could then assess the viability of technologies to remove atmospheric methane at climate-relevant scales - from the perspective of technical, economic, and broader social viability.
The report's research agenda is broken down into five areas:
  • Methane sinks and sources. Research on atmospheric and ecosystem methane sinks and sources is needed to better understand the potential to enhance natural sinks for atmospheric methane removal; determine the removal scales required for climate impacts; and enable monitoring, reporting, and verification of atmospheric methane removal technologies.

  • Atmospheric methane removal technologies. Foundational research is needed on the technical potential of atmospheric methane removal technologies - particularly their application and efficacy at atmospheric concentrations. All research questions in this area can be assessed without requiring deployment of the technologies.

  • Social science research. Foundational research is needed across social and policy dimensions to improve understanding of how research on atmospheric methane removal would affect and be affected by different populations. Engagement with relevant parties and communities will be important to inform decision-making around development and/or deployment for all atmospheric methane removal technologies.

  • Applied social dimensions research. Social-, justice-, and governance-related research is needed to inform any potential future development and/or deployment of atmospheric methane removal technologies. Governance proposals for similar technologies are plentiful and could inform the development of governance structures for atmospheric methane removal technologies.

  • Understanding the applications of atmospheric methane removal. Research is needed to understand how potential atmospheric methane removal technologies would complement, compete, or interact with other climate responses to inform their optimal use.

As with any emerging technology, research should be conducted responsibly and could include a code of conduct for researchers, a register of research activities, and public deliberation on future phases of research. Additionally, creating transparent funding streams and maximizing publicly funded research would help build credibility and legitimacy.

Assessment of Atmospheric Removal Technologies

The report assesses five atmospheric methane removal technologies with the potential to reach effectiveness at atmospheric concentrations of methane. All technologies are still firmly in the research and development stages.
Technologies assessed in the report are:
  • Methane reactors - physically bounded systems that use active air flow to capture or convert methane to a different chemical species with lower warming potential. The largest barriers to making reactors climate beneficial or cost effective are the need to heat a lot of air above ambient temperatures and the energy required for moving air and operating the reactors.
  • Methane concentrators - materials or devices that can separate or enrich methane relative to other atmospheric components. While the physical and chemical properties of methane make separation extremely challenging, if a technology could efficiently concentrate methane from low to modestly elevated concentrations, it could enable methane reactor technologies.

  • Surface treatments - applying a catalyst to a surface to convert methane to a different species with lower atmospheric warming potential when air passes over the surface. Effective treatments would have contact with a high volume of air, but they would be limited by the size of the surface and the durability of coatings.
  • Ecosystem uptake enhancement - amendments or practices to augment the net uptake of methane, by or within primarily ecosystems that are already managed by humans, such as agricultural soils or plantations. Ecosystem amendments would likely need to be reapplied and hold the potential for ecosystem co-benefits, but unintended consequences for nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and ecosystem services are not well understood.
  • Atmospheric oxidation enhancement - accelerated conversion of methane in the free atmosphere by augmenting the abundance or lifetime of reactive species. Continuous application of large quantities of materials would be required, potentially making this approach resource-intensive, but it does not have the same energy and heating requirements as other atmospheric methane removal technologies. The potential unintended consequences of this technology are substantial and not well understood.
At climate-relevant scales, atmospheric methane removal technologies will impact the chemical composition of the atmosphere beyond methane concentrations, the report says. The unintended consequences of the technologies may be significant, but insufficient information is available to fully assess these consequences. The research agenda and a second-phase assessment would improve understanding to inform any decision to move from knowledge discovery into more targeted investment in additional research, development, or deployment.
The study - undertaken by the Committee on Atmospheric Methane Removal: Development of a Research Agenda - was sponsored by the ClimateWorks Foundation.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.

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Featured Publication

2024

A Research Agenda Toward Atmospheric Methane Removal

2023 shattered global climate records as the warmest year in the modern record, bringing with it devastating impacts on human and natural systems. Methane emissions, about 60% of which come from human activities, are a major contributor to global warming, second only to carbon dioxide (CO2). Methane is relatively short-lived in the atmosphere but is 80 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat over a 20-year period. Together with reducing CO2 emissions, rapid and sustained reductions in methane emissions are critical to limit both near- and long-term warming in future decades. But given the many barriers to achieving needed emissions reductions at scale, researchers are exploring the potential of technologies to remove methane from the atmosphere.

A Research Agenda Toward Atmospheric Methane Removal is the first report of a two-phase study to assess the need and potential for atmospheric methane removal. This report identifies priority research that should be addressed within 3-5 years so that a second-phase assessment could more robustly assess the technical, economic, and social viability of technologies to remove atmospheric methane at climate-relevant scales. The research agenda presented in this report includes foundational research that would help us better understand atmospheric methane removal while also filling knowledge gaps in related fields, and systems research that seek to address what developing and/or deploying atmospheric methane removal at scale would entail. A Research Agenda Toward Atmospheric Methane Removal also assesses five atmospheric methane removal technologies that would accelerate the conversion of methane to a less radiatively potent form or physically remove methane from the atmosphere and store it elsewhere.

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