Greenhouse gas emissions calculators used by Government are 'accentuating the impact of methane four-fold'

Equivalent

He said: “The standard method multiplies methane emissions by 28 to give your Co2 equivalent emissions. This is a complete misnomer because it does not have an equivalent impact on global temperature.

“We don’t actually need to get methane emissions to net zero for methane to stop causing global warming. If it falls by 10 per cent in 30 years, then methane emissions won’t cause anymore warming.”

A more simple and accurate method would be to multiply this year’s Co2 emissions by 112 and subtract 105 times your methane emissions from 20 years ago, he said.

“If you’ve had a stable herd [of cattle] for 20 years, that means it’s worth only 7 tonnes of Co2 warming equivalent per tonne of methane generated by your herd rather than 28, so you’re being overcharged by a factor of four."

Government

Urging delegates to put pressure on Government to make changes to the system, he added: “It’s not that the methane’s not doing anything at all, but the standard accounting systems we use don’t reflect its actual impact on global temperature.”