In 2024, two new satellites were launched to find methane super-emitters from space: the Environmental Defense Fund’s MethaneSAT took off in March 2024; and Carbon Mapper, launched later last year as a public-private partnership.
Methane is a super-powered greenhouse gas. Pound-for-pound, methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first two decades after release. Over the past two centuries, its concentration has more than doubled, a much faster increase than for carbon dioxide. Methane concentrations are rising more quickly than at any time since record-keeping began.
Global methane emissions are