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Updated: Aug 9, 2026
08:18
Design and Use of a Full Flow Sampling System (FFS) for the Quantification of Methane Emissions
Published on: June 12, 2016
City-Scale, Source-Resolved Methane Inventories Reveal Drivers and Mitigation Pathways Across China's Cities
Li Zhang1,2, Yifan Chen3, Ke Wang4
1School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang212013, China.
Environmental Science & Technology
|August 7, 2026
Summary
China needs city-level methane (CH4) inventories for targeted climate policies. This study provides a detailed CH4 inventory and driver analysis, revealing economic activity as a key driver and outlining pathways for significant emission reductions.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Climate Change Research
- Atmospheric Chemistry
Background:
- Methane (CH4) emissions vary significantly across Chinese cities due to diverse energy, agricultural, and waste management systems.
- A lack of detailed, city-level CH4 inventories hinders effective policy design, targeting, and evaluation for climate mitigation.
- Understanding regional emission drivers is crucial for developing tailored strategies to reduce CH4 pollution.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a harmonized, annually consistent, multisector, source-resolved CH4 inventory for 339 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2018-2024.
- To analyze emission drivers using Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition and explore mitigation scenarios.
- To provide data supporting city-specific CH4 mitigation planning and national target benchmarking.
Main Methods:
- Development of a comprehensive CH4 inventory covering energy, agriculture, and waste sectors for 339 cities.
- Application of LMDI decomposition to attribute emission changes to economic activity, intensity, structure, and population.
- Scenario analysis to project future CH4 emissions under different mitigation strategies.
Main Results:
- National anthropogenic CH4 emissions increased by 2.61% between 2018-2024, with significant regional variations.
- Economic activity was identified as the primary driver of CH4 emission increases.
- Scenario simulations indicate a potential 63.9% reduction in national CH4 emissions by 2060 through integrated multisector strategies.
Conclusions:
- The developed city-scale CH4 inventory and driver analysis are essential for informed policy-making in China.
- Integrated energy, agriculture, and waste management strategies are key to achieving substantial CH4 emission reductions.
- This work provides a critical baseline for monitoring, reporting, verification, and achieving national methane reduction targets.
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