Methane Super-Emitters Beware, Bloomberg Is Coming

The article discusses a new $100 million initiative launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies to combat methane super-emitters worldwide. Methane, a greenhouse gas with 80 times the warming impact of carbon dioxide, has historically received only 2% of climate finance despite its significant role in climate change. Bloomberg’s fund aims to establish a global network of “Methane Response Basecamps” to identify and reduce methane emissions, which could cut global methane emissions by 30% by 2030—equivalent to removing about 10 gigatons of CO₂ and preventing numerous health issues related to air pollution. A major challenge in addressing methane emissions has been detecting their sources. Advances in satellite technology, particularly NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) on the International Space Station, have enabled the identification of over 50 methane super-emitters across regions including Central Asia, the Middle East, and the southwestern United States. These super-emitters are typically linked to fossil fuel