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#Methane

Peatlands worldwide are drying out, threatening to release 860 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year

Peatlands worldwide are running short of water, and the amount of greenhouse gases this could set loose would be devastating for our efforts to curb climate change.

Why there’s more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere than you may have realised

This week brought news that atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels at the Mauna Loa atmospheric observatory in Hawaii have risen steeply for the seventh year in a row, reaching a May 2019 average of 414.7 parts per million (ppm). But in truth, the amount of greenhouse gas in our atmosphere is higher still.

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Turning methane into carbon dioxide could help us fight climate change

In a paper published today in Nature Sustainability, we propose a new technique to clean the atmosphere of the second most powerful greenhouse gas people produce: methane. The technique could restore the concentration of methane to levels found before the Industrial Revolution, and in doing so, reduce global warming by one-sixth.

At CSIRO, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.

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