How to pronounce "gradual"

This is key for protecting generations to come.

But with climate change already devastating so many lives today,

we can't focus only on the distant future.

My work as a scientist aims to identify ways

to slow down warming as fast as possible,

so that we can lower the risks of worsening damages in the near future.

This is where methane comes in.

That one percent of methane may cause more warming

than all that CO2 in the next several years,

but it only lasts in the atmosphere for around a decade.

Methane's warming power is therefore not from the gradual buildup over time

like CO2,

but almost entirely from recent emissions.

This means that every time we reduce methane,

we can reduce a lot of warming right away.

In fact, cutting methane is the single fastest,

most effective opportunity to immediately slow down the rate of warming.

(Applause)

And this is because not only does methane act fast,

but because we can act fast

because we have the technologies available right now