Toward Better Greenhouse Gas Monitoring and Climate Intervention

The world's nations have made progress in slowing the rate of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and mitigating methane (CH4) leaks from oil and gas facilities. However, there is more need than ever for early, targeted, and sustained climate intervention. For such interventions to succeed, they must rely on accurate, timely information that integrates data from surface, airborne, and satellite sensors, covering local, regional, and international scales. This effort requires cross-disciplinary collaboration among many organizations from many nations. Last September, members of the carbon cycle monitoring community met to determine how best to establish a system to more effectively monitor progress in reducing emissions and to help accelerate climate intervention through better data and decision support. Here, we highlight some of the issues and challenges facing efforts to monitor and document greenhouse gas emissions, and we discuss the ideas and proposals put forth as a result of the September meeting.