The UNFCCC focus from 1992 has been on carbon dioxide (CO2) and the role of energy generation and use in CO2 emissions. Now, it’s increasingly being recognised that because the radiative forcing per unit of methane is so much greater than CO2, although the quantities of CO2 emitted annually are greater, CO2 has a half life in the atmosphere exceeding 100 years while all emitted methane is out of the atmosphere in 10 to 20 years, said Robert N. Stavins.
