Summary: Website for the 3rd edition of the National Methane Days, bringing together French scientific communities working on methane, as well as interested industrial partners, to exchange information and review recently acquired knowledge and future challenges.

Methane is the second most significant anthropogenic greenhouse gas after CO2. Its emissions are estimated at 575 Mt/year and contribute to global warming at a rate of two-thirds of the effect of CO2 emissions. This significance is linked to the fact that methane's warming potential is approximately 30 times greater than that of CO2 over a 100-year period. Its half-life of around ten years, which brings the effects of emission reductions within human lifespan, and its indirect impact on air pollution, as an ozone precursor, make it a prime target for mitigating global warming and improving air quality, as highlighted in the latest report from Working Group I of the IPCC (IPCC, 2022).

Following numerous scientific studies and recommendations since the early 2000s, the issue of methane and the role of reducing its emissions in mitigating climate change has reached the political level in recent years. At COP26, more than 100 countries committed to the Global Methane Pledge, aiming to reduce global anthropogenic methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2020 levels. China indicated its commitment to reducing its methane emissions at this time. The European Commission also adopted a methane strategy at the end of 2020 as part of the European Green Deal, aiming to reduce sectoral emissions from energy, agriculture, and waste, in the proportions recently reiterated at COP26. These commitments are a necessary first step that now needs to be translated into concrete action.

The instability of the international situation in recent months threatens the commitments of states that have other issues on their minds, making it all the more critical that the scientific community maintain the visibility of work on climate change, and in particular on the evolution of the methane cycle. Many scientific questions remain unanswered regarding the methane cycle, requiring further research. Rapid developments are underway, for example, in observation (spatial and in-situ) and modeling of the various components of the methane cycle, allowing for the accumulation of new knowledge. This knowledge should also enable the emergence of services offering, in particular, the monitoring of anthropogenic emissions, in partnership with the relevant industrial sectors.

One of the complexities of methane stems from the variety of its sources and sinks, the study of which requires a wide range of expertise and therefore also involves numerous scientific, experimental, and modeling communities. The scientific questions cover the study of wetlands and inland waters, oceanic and continental degassing, the estimation of anthropogenic emissions at all scales in different sectors of activity, atmospheric spectroscopy, atmospheric chemistry, the development of methane observation from space... This variety is a richness but also a difficulty because the different communities are rarely brought together to offer an overall view, however essential, of the methane cycle. The French scientific community is active on many fronts in methane research, as demonstrated during the first two National Methane Days in 2015 and 2022.

In this context, and building on the 2026 anniversary of Alessandro Volta's discovery of methane, it is proposed to organize the 3rd National Methane Days to bring together French scientific communities working on methane, as well as interested industrial partners, to exchange information and review recently acquired knowledge and future challenges.

The 3rd National Methane Days will be held in Paris over two half-days, November 17th and 18th, 2026, to bring together French scientific communities working on methane, as well as interested industrial partners and local authorities, to exchange information and review recently acquired knowledge, impacts, and opportunities with stakeholders involved in societal issues.

Two sessions are offered. The afternoon of November 17th will be dedicated to recent methane research findings. The morning of November 18th will be dedicated to the links between methane research and society at large: partnerships with industry, the service sector, and local authorities; national and European regulatory aspects; and more.

To propose an oral presentation (15 minutes) or poster for these sessions, please submit an abstract on the registration page before July 3, 2026.

This call for proposals is open to all national communities working on methane: researchers, engineers, doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, private partners, public sector representatives, project managers, and others.

Presentations may be given in French or English.