Canada is continuing to amplify efforts to combat methane emissions, and while oil and gas wells have the most unmeasured emissions, landfills are another major source that emit the potent greenhouse gas.
As reported by the CBC, Environment and Climate Change Canada enlisted the Flux Lab at St. Francis Xavier University to refine measurements of landfill methane. With funding from federal agencies and the United Nations, the lab’s findings indicate slightly lower emissions than previously estimated, attributed in part to Canada’s cold, dry climate. However, landfills remain a substantial source of methane, requiring ongoing mitigation efforts.
Dave Risk, head of the Flux Lab, underscores the necessity of accurate data to guide regulatory measures and ensure effective investments in methane mitigation. According to the CBC, Risk’s team regularly track methane emissions from wells drilled into closed landfills. Yet, despite being closed for over two decades, methane is still being emitted from over 3,000 landfills across Canada.
“This landfill is still emitting and it’s been closed for 25 years. It will keep emitting for probably another 75 years before it returns to normal. So landfills don’t just emit from the waste today, but they emit from the waste that we threw out decades ago,” said Risk to CBC.
Despite its shorter atmospheric longevity, methane’s heightened heat-trapping potency is over 25 times more effective than carbon dioxide, which has prompted the Canadian government to implement regulations to accurately measure these emissions. Some policies put in place to achieve this include the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by 30 percent below 2020 levels by 2030. Another example is the Faster and Further initiative, which outlines targeted regulations to curb landfill methane emissions.
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