Covid-era Clean Air Sparked Unexpected Methane Surge

COVID-19 lockdowns sharply reduced nitrogen oxides, shrinking the hydroxyl radical that normally destroys methane and causing a large methane spike in 2020—about 80% of the rise came from a slower methane sink, with the remaining ~20% from increased ground emissions. Wetlands in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia, boosted by La Niña’s wetter conditions, contributed roughly 30% of the global increase during 2020–2022, marking a ‘clean air paradox’ where cleaner urban air reduces methane sinks and intensifies the need for aggressive anthropogenic methane cuts to curb warming.