Methane (CH₄) is a powerful greenhouse gas and an important target for near-term climate mitigation. Methane is produced by both natural processes and human activities such as agriculture, waste management and fossil fuel extraction. Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuel use and agricultural expansion have contributed to a doubling of atmospheric methane concentrations, while climate-driven changes in tropical wetlands and thawing Arctic permafrost may further increase emissions. With a warming potential around 80 times greater than CO₂ over a 20-year period, reducing methane emissions represents one of the most effective near-term actions to mitigate climate change.
This is reflected in European and global policies, such as the 2020 EU Methane Strategy, the 2021 Global Methane Pledge and the legally binding EU Methane Regulation 2024/1787. The latter strengthens requirements for measurement, reporting and verification of emissions and foresees a global methane monitoring tool based on satellite data, including Copernicus, as well as a rapid-reaction mechanism for super-emitting events.
However, methane policy is still constrained by large uncertainties in anthropogenic emission inventories and by unresolved questions around the drivers of atmospheric methane growth. The central scientific challenge is to distinguish different source contributions across scales, from individual hotspots to regional and global methane budgets. This alliance brings together SMART-CH4, IM4CA and EOWetMet to create a more integrated approach to methane monitoring. Building on advances in methane retrieval algorithms, regional inversions and observational infrastructures, the collaboration combines satellite observations from missions including TROPOMI, EMIT, EnMAP, GHGSat and future methane-focused missions with atmospheric transport models and ground-based observations. Together, the projects are developing approaches that connect fine-scale methane hotspot detection with regional-scale emission quantification, while also improving the accuracy of methane budgets through dedicated validation campaigns and bias-correction activities. A critical knowledge gap is also being addressed by improving methane emission estimates from Arctic permafrost wetlands, where climate change is expected to alter future emission patterns.
This coordinated approach strengthens the global methane monitoring capacity and delivers results greater than the sum of individual efforts:
- For Earth Observation science, SMART-CH4 improves the ability to exploit satellite measurements for methane detection and quantification, supporting more reliable emission assessments across different spatial scales.
- For climate research in vulnerable regions, EOWetMet provides enhanced understanding of methane dynamics in Arctic permafrost wetlands, and is helping to reduce uncertainty in estimating methane due to more precise source allocation and budgeting.
- For emission inventories and policy implementation, IM4CA combines multiple observation sources and modelling techniques to generate updated methane emission estimates, supporting transparent monitoring and verification efforts.