A new United Nations report says cutting methane pollution is crucial to curbing dangerous climate change in the short term. Thursday’s report says that if methane emissions are cut nearly in half by 2030, a half a degree of future warming can be prevented and so can 250,000 air pollution deaths annually around the world. Methane is much more potent in trapping heat than the chief greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But methane only lasts a dozen years in the air instead of centuries. The U.N. says emissions of both methane and carbon dioxide need to be cut, but methane cuts pay off quicker.
