Syllabus: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Methane and Its Climate Significance
- Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, 84 times stronger than CO₂ over a 20-year period.
- It is generated through decomposition of organic matter, including waste in landfills.
- While useful as fuel, uncontrolled methane emissions accelerate global warming.
- Managing methane offers immediate climate gains alongside cleaner urban environments.
India’s Methane Emissions: Waste Sector Focus
- Around 15% of India’s methane emissions originate from the waste sector.
- Waste management offers quick mitigation opportunities, unlike agriculture or energy sectors.
- National frameworks like Swachh Bharat Mission already enable targeted interventions.
- Effective mitigation depends on accurate identification of emission hotspots.
Challenges in Methane Measurement
- Traditional estimates rely on models using waste volumes and baseline assumptions.
- These models need frequent, accurate data, often scarce in developing countries.
- Aggregated national or regional data makes site-specific detection difficult.
- Ground-based monitoring requires costly equipment, maintenance, and technical capacity.
Role of Satellite-Based Monitoring
- Satellites provide an alternative to overcome data and monitoring constraints.
- Regional satellites track broad methane trends across several kilometres.
- High-resolution satellites pinpoint hotspots down to a few square metres.
- India used satellite data in 2023, with ISRO mapping anthropogenic methane emissions.
Key Findings from Satellite Data
- Major dumpsites like Pirana, Deonar, Kanjurmarg, and sewage outlets show high emissions.
- Satellites like CarbonMapper Tanager and SRON missions offer public landfill data.
- Platforms such as ClimateTRACE and WasteMap integrate satellite observations with models.
- Globally, landfill emissions are 1.8 times higher than model-based estimates.
Discrepancies Between Models and Reality
- Delhi’s Ghazipur and Bhalswa emit 0.85–0.96 million tons CO₂e, nearly sector totals.
- Mumbai’s Kanjurmarg emits 10 times higher than model estimates, despite engineered design.
- Pirana landfill alone matches Gujarat’s entire waste-sector emission estimates.
- These gaps indicate leakages, accelerated decomposition, or system failures.
Integrating Satellites with Ground Action
- Satellite data alone faces limitations from cloud cover and weather variability.
- Urban local bodies must validate findings through ground-level investigations.
- A feedback loop links satellite detection with rapid on-site corrective action.
- Infrastructure data, dumping patterns, and gas collection systems enhance accuracy.
Way Forward and Co-benefits
- Expand satellite coverage across all major waste sites nationwide.
- Establish on-ground validation systems in metropolitan cities.
- Create standardised data-sharing platforms across urban and regulatory bodies.
- Schemes like Gobardhan show methane’s potential through Bio-CNG production.
- Data-driven waste policy can transform methane control into India’s smart climate solution.