In a report published last week in the Journal Nature by contributing authors from NOAA, it was suggested that reducing non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases would result in some more rapid benefits in combating climate change. The report states:
“methane, nitrous oxide and ozone-depleting substances (largely from sources other than fossil fuels), also contribute significantly to warming. Some non-CO2 greenhouse gases have much shorter lifetimes than CO2, so reducing their emissions offers an additional opportunity to lessen future climate change.”
The report notes that because these gases have a “shorter atmospheric lifetime” than carbon dioxide the beneficial effects could be realized more rapidly than can be achieved with reductions in carbon dioxide, although resulting in only a partial solution to climate change.