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Methane removal and atmospheric restoration

Matters Arising to this article was published on 23 March 2020

Zeolites and other technologies should be evaluated and pursued for reducing methane concentrations in the atmosphere from 1,860 ppb to preindustrial levels of ~750 ppb. Such a goal of atmospheric restoration provides a positive framework for change at a time when climate action is desperately needed.

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Fig. 1: A hypothetical industrial array oxidizing CH4 to CO2.

Image by Stan Coffman

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Acknowledgements

This Comment is a contribution of the Global Carbon Project (globalcarbonproject.org). We acknowledge support for general research on methane from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF5439; R.B.J. and J.G.C.), the Stanford Natural Gas Initiative (R.B.J., M.C.), US National Science Foundation (CHE-1660611; E.I.S.), and the Australian National Environmental Science Program – Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub (J.G.C.). We also acknowledge H. M. Rhoda and S. Coffman for assistance with the manuscript and artwork, respectively.

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Jackson, R.B., Solomon, E.I., Canadell, J.G. et al. Methane removal and atmospheric restoration. Nat Sustain 2, 436–438 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0299-x

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