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The latest IPCC (the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report says that human activity is changing the climate in unprecedented and sometimes irreversible ways. The focus is on keeping temperature rises down by limiting carbon dioxide. However, action around methane could bring significant benefits.

Methane is a short-lived but very powerful greenhouse gas which lasts around ten years in the atmosphere and is 100 times stronger than CO2 at causing the greenhouse effect. Drew Shindell, Professor of Earth Science at Duke University, outlines the natural and industrial processes that produce the gas. He says that reducing these, including the amount of meat livestock would be a straightforward and powerful contribution to reducing temperature rises.

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