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🇲🇹 Malta's Sources of CH₄ Emissions

Malta's Sources of CH4 Emissions

✨ Key Insights

Livestock and Waste: Key Contributors

Malta's methane emissions have been predominantly driven by livestock and waste management. Over the decades, emissions from livestock have shown a steady increase, peaking in the late 20th century. This trend aligns with global agricultural practices and increased livestock production. Waste management has also been a significant source, with emissions rising notably in the early 2000s. The introduction of more efficient waste management practices in recent years has helped stabilize these emissions.

Fuel Combustion and Energy Transitions

Fuel combustion has played a smaller role in Malta's methane emissions. However, the transition to natural gas in 1987 and the conversion of the Delimara Power Station in 2013 marked significant shifts in energy production. These changes were part of Malta's broader strategy to reduce its carbon footprint, resulting in a cleaner energy mix and a reduction in methane emissions from fuel combustion.

Impact of EU Membership and Infrastructure

Malta's accession to the European Union in 2004 brought about regulatory changes and infrastructure development, impacting emissions. While increased economic activity initially led to higher emissions, EU regulations and funding for cleaner technologies have helped mitigate these effects. The completion of the electricity interconnector with Sicily in 2017 further reduced reliance on fossil fuels, contributing to a decrease in overall emissions.

Background

The chart shows a national breakdown by source of the yearly methane (CH4) emissions from human activities expressed as weight in megatonnes (Mt). In the scientific literature, these are referred to as anthropogenic emissions. Human-induced methane emissions increase atmospheric methane, which is warming the Earth. The sources of human methane emissions are

  • Livestock
  • Fugitive emissions from the fossil fuel industry
  • Crop production
  • Fossil fuel combustion
  • Waste management
  • Other processes

Methane's Global Warming Potential

Methane has a much higher Global Warming Potential (GWP) than CO2. However, the effect lasts only for a relatively brief period (9 years on average), compared to hundreds of years for CO2. A reduction in emissions can cause a rapid decline in its atmospheric levels and climate impact.

Livestock

Livestock emits methane that is produced in the animals' digestive system. Most methane is emitted from the mouth during rumination. A much smaller amount of methane is emitted from the manure. Depending on how the manure is managed, i.e., wet or dry, more methane is emitted. Wet management leads to higher methane emissions than dry management. However, dry management also emits nitrous oxide (N2O), which is another potent greenhouse gas.

Fugitive emissions from fossil fuel industry

Fugitive methane emissions are from the intentional and accidental release of methane, which happens during the extraction, storage, and transportation processes in the fossil fuel industry. Examples are methane leaks during oil and gas handling, storage, transport, incomplete combustion, and many more. Also, methane is deliberately ventilated from mines during the extraction of coal.


Methane is a primary part of “gas”, also called “natural gas” or “fossil gas”. Natural gas is used, for example, for heating and electricity generation, whereby it emits CO2 during the combustion process. However, when natural gas leaks (unburned) it contains a lot of fugitive methane emissions.

Waste

Waste from landfills and wastewater produces a lot of methane when biodegradable material breaks down without oxygen.

Crop production

Crop production emissions are largely from rice cultivation, which generates large amounts of methane during plant growth. These emissions are from flooded paddies, which create the swamp-like environment of rice fields. There are agricultural techniques to reduce emissions significantly, like periodic drainage and aeration. Rice is the main staple for about half the world's population, and its emissions are a significant part of total human methane emissions.

Fuel combustion

Fuel combustion emissions are mostly from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. As mentioned before, natural gas consists largely of methane, and when the combustion does not happen completely, methane enters the atmosphere.

Other

Other human-induced methane emissions include industrial processes and product uses.

Wikipedia: Anthropogenic Sources of Atmospheric Methane
IPCC: AR6, 5.2.2.2 Anthropogenic CH4 emissions

Units and Measures

CH4 emissions are expressed in the total weight in megatonnes per year. 1 Megatonne is equal to 1 million tonnes.

Wikipedia: Megatonne
Wikipedia: Global warming potential

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About the Data

The last available year in all the emission datasets is 2023. Methane emissions come from the PRIMAP-Hist dataset. It is a rich dataset that combines several published sources to create a historical emissions time series for various greenhouse gases.

The Key Insights paragraph was generated using a large language model (LLM) using a structured approach to improve the accuracy. This included separating the context generation from the interpretation and narrative.

Data Sources

PRIMAP-hist The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023)
Update cycle: Every few monthsDelay: Less than 1 yearCredits: Gütschow, Johannes; Busch, Daniel; Pflüger, Mika (2024): The PRIMAP-hist national historical emissions time series (1750-2023) v2.6. Zenodo.