Sabin Center Publishes New Report on the Legal Framework for Removing Atmospheric Methane via Soil Amendments – Climate Law Blog

The Sabin Center published a report that explores the international and U.S. laws governing atmospheric methane removal (“AMR”) via soil amendments. AMR refers to human interventions to accelerate the conversion of methane in the atmosphere to a form that causes less warming (e.g., converting it to carbon dioxide). Scientists have proposed a range of potential AMR approaches, but all are in the early stages of development and require significantly more research to evaluate their efficacy and impacts. One proposed approach aims to increase atmospheric methane uptake by microbes in soils by adding substances, called soil amendments, to those soils.

Addressing methane is critically important in global efforts to address the climate crisis. Methane is a highly potent greenhouse gas, with each ton of methane emitted trapping approximately 80 times more heat in the earth’s atmosphere than a ton of carbon dioxide over a 20-year timescale. Rising human and natural emissions have caused methane concentrations in the atmosphere to grow to 2.5 times their preindustrial average and further growth, potentially at an accelerated rate, is expected in coming decades.

Rapid and sustained reductions in human-driven methane emissions, which account for about 60% of the total, are critical to limiting warming in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. Reductions in certain methane emissions, particularly from the fossil fuel sector, can be implemented cheaply and efficiently. Other forms of methane emissions, like those from agricultural sources, are more difficult to control. This fact, coupled with concerns that climate change could unlock significant additional natural emissions from tropical wetlands and melting permafrost, has increased interest in AMR

The report published today introduces the concepts of AMR and soil amendments, explains proposed applications of soil amendments, and discusses the climate and non-climate benefits and risks that soil amendments may present. The report then discusses the international and U.S. legal frameworks that might affect whether, when, where, and how soil amendment projects are conducted. The report explores international law, with a particular focus on the application of the Convention on Biological Diversity (“CBD”), and U.S. law, especially federal environmental law.

The report provides the first detailed analysis of legal regimes that might have implications for the conduct of soil amendment projects. Several conclusions can be drawn from the analysis, which are explained in more depth in the paper:

1. Soil amendments projects may present fewer legal issues compared to some other AMR techniques (e.g., atmospheric oxidation enhancement). Even so, the legal framework for soil amendments projects is highly complex, and likely to be challenging for project developers to navigate.
2. The CBD is the most relevant international agreement to soil amendment projects.
3. Many soil amendment projects implicate and will be governed by traditional environmental law.
4. Key distinctions in applicable legal regimes are 1) whether projects are on federal or private land, and 2) whether they are conducted on agricultural or other soils.

The report is available here.

The report is part of the Sabin Center’s ongoing work on carbon management and negative emissions. Previously, the Sabin Center published a report analyzing Legal Considerations for Atmospheric Methane Removal, in a report commissioned by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine as part of their Research Agenda Toward Atmospheric Methane Removal. The Sabin Center also previously published a report analyzing the legal framework for a different AMR approach, atmospheric oxidation enhancement, which is available here.