China failing to curb methane emissions, study finds

Methane emissions from coal mining in China have continued to rise despite tough legislation and ambitious government targets, a new study based on satellite data said Wednesday.

The news is likely to fuel concerns that major emitters like China are failing to meet targets intended to prevent nightmare climate change scenarios.

"China's methane regulations have not had a detectable impact on the country's methane emissions," the study's first author Scot Miller told AFP.

"China has been able to 'talk the talk' so to speak in terms of setting emissions reduction policies, but we found that the country has not yet been able to 'walk the walk'," added Miller, assistant professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

The research used data gathered by a Japanese satellite that monitors greenhouse gases, and looked at measurements from 2010-2015, the most recent information available when the study began two years ago.

It found that emissions continued to ...