India tops world in methane emissions from agriculture: UN body

India tops in the emission of methane from the agricultural sector, a potent greenhouse gas that drives climate change, the Global Methane Status Report 2025 published by the United Nations Environment Programme has revealed.

“Emissions vary significantly across regions. The G20 accounts for more than 60 per cent of global agricultural methane emissions, led by India, China, Brazil, the United States of America and the European Union,” the report stated. It was released at the 30^th Conference of the Parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Brazil on November 17.

According to the report, agriculture was the largest source of global biogenic methane emissions in 2020, responsible for 146 million tonnes per year or almost 42 per cent of the global total, slightly ahead of the energy sector. Livestock and rice cultivation dominate these emissions, contributing 76 per cent and 21 per cent respectively, while agricultural waste burning accounting for the remaining three per cent.

Without additional mitigation policies beyond those in place as of December 2024, emissions from agriculture are projected to rise by 7.8 per cent by 2030 and 17 per cent by 2050 compared to 2020 levels, the UN body has cautioned. The growth will be primarily driven by expanding livestock herds, especially in Africa and Latin America.

The report describes methane as a “dangerous climate forcer” and a harmful air pollutant. As the second most significant contributor to human-induced warming after carbon dioxide, methane has a potent short-term warming effect and is a major precursor to ground-level ozone, which harms human health, agriculture and ecosystems.

The use of fossil fuels, industrial byproducts and decomposition of waste are other sources of human related emissions of methane. Natural sources, which account for less than four per cent of the emissions include wetlands, oceans, termites, volcanic activity and permafrost.

Methane emissions in agriculture primarily come from livestock involving ruminant digestion and manure, and rice cultivation, where flooded rice fields create anaerobic conditions that produce methane from decomposing organic matter. India, a predominantly agricultural economy, has among the world’s largest numbers of livestock, including cattle, goats, sheep and chickens, and is the world’s second largest producer of rice.

“While agriculture is a major and growing source of methane emissions, multiple cost-effective and socially beneficial mitigation options exist. Urgent and ambitious action is needed to close the gap between current policy ambition and the sector’s full mitigation potential,” the report emphasises.

Deploying low-cost mitigation technologies, those costing less than USD 1,000 per tonne of methane or USD 36 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent, could reduce agricultural methane emissions by 15 per cent by 2030 compared to projected emissions for the sector under current legislation in the same year.

Key opportunities include improved rice cultivation, for example, improved water management and sulphate use, which could reduce emissions by 9.8 million tonnes per year at negative cost by 2030, and banning the open burning of agricultural waste, which lower emissions by a further 4.7 million tonnes per year at zero cost, by 2030.

In the livestock sector, cost-effective strategies such as reducing enteric fermentation and improved manure management are available, but implementation is often limited by higher costs and social factors. In low-income regions, co-benefits, such as improved animal health and climate resilience through veterinary care feed storage and gender-inclusive programmes, make mitigation more attractive.

Beyond technical solutions, shifts in food systems, such as adopting healthy diets and reducing food waste, would bring additional cuts to global methane emissions which are needed to stay on a pathway consistent with internationally agreed climate goals by 2050, the report states. These changes, along with measures including anaerobic digestion and intermittent rice irrigation, could also yield reductions in other greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, amplifying climate benefits.