Anthropogenic Methane Emission In India: Sources Of Methane Reduction Through Circular Economy For Mitigating Climate Change

Abstract

Methane, one of the major greenhouse gases (GHGs) produced due to various anthropogenic activities, is on the rise with increasing population and urbanization. It is the second most important greenhouse gas which is 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone. It is the second largest contributor of climate change, accounting for about 16% of the warming effect. India is one of the major methane-emitting countries where methane emission is from human activities such as agriculture, livestock centric fermentation, and urban waste dumping in areas like urban wetlands. Though methane is a byproduct in the industrial process and despite new technologies being available for methane recovery, methane emission continues to grow without the use of circular economy owing to inadequate investment on the one hand and the growing population and urbanization on the other hand. Atmospheric burden due to methane emission can be reduced substantially with the practice of waste reduction, waste recycling and conversion of biowaste into energy. The paper suggests technological use, innovations and development needs to be relevant for both business success and environmental sustainability. The present paper takes a modest attempt to describe the production of methane based on different anthropogenic activities, its contribution to the GHGs and the possibilities of reducing methane through the practice of following circular economy.