---
title: "Scientists’ Startling Idea to Fight Climate Change: More CO2"
description: "## Greenhouse Blues"
date: "2019-05-21"
modified: "2019-05-21"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/release-co2-methane-climate-change"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "carbon dioxide"
  - "climate change"
  - "methane"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists’ Startling Idea to Fight Climate Change: More CO2

![Scientists from Stanford University are arguing that we should be converting methane into more carbon dioxide to help with climate change.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/release-co2-methane-climate-change.png>)
*\<em\>Image: SD-Pictures via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Greenhouse Blues

Greenhouses gases like carbon dioxide are wreaking havoc on Earth's climate. But in a surprising twist, scientists from Stanford University [are arguing](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0299-x>) that more carbon could keep climate change in check.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but the explanation is surprisingly simple: since methane is technically more harmful to the environment, the researchers say we should convert it into carbon dioxide.

"That would buy us time to address the more difficult set of carbon dioxide sources," researcher Rob Jackson [told *Popular Science*](<https://www.popsci.com/turning-methane-into-carbon>).

## Methane Disdain

As *Popular Science* [points out](<https://www.popsci.com/turning-methane-into-carbon>), methane from industrial and agricultural sources warms the atmosphere a staggering 84 times as much as CO2 across 20 years.

Scientists haven't hammered out exactly how they'd convert methane into carbon dioxide, and it would likely be expensive and energy-intensive. And other scientists totally oppose the idea.

"I propose that we decrease \[methane\] emissions in known ways, and let the atmosphere take care of its oxidation to CO2 in about 10 years," Pieter Tans, chief of NOAA’s Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group, told *Popular Science*.

**READ MORE:** [Scientists want to reduce CO2 by releasing more CO2](<https://www.popsci.com/turning-methane-into-carbon>) \[*Popular Science*\]

**More on carbon scrubbing:** *[New Tech That Sucks Carbon From Chimneys Has "Tremendous Potential"](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/carbon-dioxide-scrubber-bigs>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)