Worldwide, hard coal mining is being carried out at ever
increasing depth, and has, therefore, to cope with correspondingly
increasing methane emissions. About seven per cent of global
methane emissions are caused by coal mining. Beside carbon
dioxide, chloro-fluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides,
methane is one of the most significant `greenhouse' gases. It is
mainly through the release of such trace gases that the
greenhouse effect is brought about. Reducing methane emissions
is therefore an important problem to be solved by the coal mining
industry. This paper begins by highlighting some of the fundamental
principles of methane in hard coal mining. The methane problem
in German hard coal mining and the industry's efforts to reduce
methane emissions are presented. The future development in
German hard coal mining is illustrated by an example which
shows how large methane volumes can be managed, while still
maintaining high outputs at increasing depth.