A bibliometrics review of non-CO₂ greenhouse gas reduction strategies

Non-CO₂ greenhouse gases (NCGGs)—methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases—significantly contribute to global warming, and accelerating NCGG mitigation is crucial for achieving the 1.5°C target and reducing near-term warming risks. Systematically addressing issues such as how much to reduce, when to reduce, who will reduce, how to reduce, and what are the effects is key to the design of mitigation strategies. However, there is currently a lack of strategic synthesis and forward-looking discussion in the field of NCGG mitigation research, which limits the identification of key knowledge gaps and strategic research priorities. This study draws insights from 3,026 published papers on NCGG mitigation, highlighting emerging trends and persistent challenges through the lens of time-space-efficiency-benefit coordination. Considerable untapped mitigation potential remains across the agriculture, waste and energy sectors. But low-tier, static accounting methods still constrain spatiotemporal accuracy, and coarse representations in integrated assessment models can distort mitigation costs while overlooking feedbacks with CO₂ mitigation pathways. Building dynamic, high-resolution monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) systems, integrating technology learning and cross-sector resource competition, and valuing multi-objective trade-offs are essential to support coordinated NCGG mitigation pathways with broader climate and societal benefits. Coherent governance frameworks linking international cooperation, technological support, and financial mechanisms are urgently needed to align regional actions with global climate goals. By identifying the main research frontiers, knowledge gaps and future priorities, we provide a roadmap for researchers, modelling communities and policymakers.