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Identify and boycott laggards

There is no good reason why governments and companies should not identify and boycott those countries that are ducking their responsibilities to the whole of humankind. Take, Australia , for example(from ABC report 3 December 2021) : "Key points: Methane is more potent than carbon dioxide It is responsible for more than 30 per cent of global warming to date Australia did not sign up to a COP26 commitment to reduce methane levels by 30 per cent by 2030 Using satellite imagery from the European Space Agency combined with meteorological data and atmospheric models, Mr Lelong, the director of natural resources at geospatial analytics firm Kayrros, has been able to measure methane leaks from the fossil fuel industry around the world. What he has found above Queensland's coal-rich Bowen Basin raises serious questions about whether Australia has been accurately reporting its greenhouse gas emissions to international bodies. "We found that emissions for all the 50-odd mines in that basin in total add up to about 1.5 million tonnes of methane per year," Mr Lelong told the ABC. According to federal government figures for the same period, only a third of that amount of methane was reported in the area. If accurate, Kayrros's data portrays an extraordinary picture of the potential impact Australia's coal industry is having on the Earth's atmosphere. "These numbers [in the Bowen Basin] are the equivalent of the total carbon footprint of a medium-sized European country like Austria or the Czech Republic," Mr Lelong said. In the fight to keep global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius, methane matters. It is far more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) and is responsible for around 30 per cent of global warming to date. Typically, methane leaks occur from coal mines, oil and gas wells and natural gas pipelines. Reducing these leaks helps buy the planet time to get other greenhouse gas emissions under control and is one of the easiest ways to reduce emissions. At the global climate change summit COP26, over 100 nations signed a pledge to reduce methane levels by 30 per cent by 2030. Australia's government did not sign the agreement, and the opposition Labor party has no plans to sign up to the pledge if it wins at the next election. " My idea is for countries and companies that care to turn up the heat a bit more, maybe even with trade sanctions, on the ones that are not doing the right thing.
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