Posts Tagged ‘methane’

Super Pollutant Emissions Reduction Act Introduced in Congress Targets “super” climate pollutants: black carbon, methane, ground-level ozone, and HFC coolants

Posted by admin on May 11th, 2013

Washington, D.C. — Congressman Scott Peters (D-Calif.) today introduced the Super Pollutant Emissions Reduction Act of 2013, or SUPER Act, to establish a U.S task force to reduce super climate pollutants under existing authorities.  The super pollutants, also know as short-lived climate pollutants because they remain in the atmosphere for only short periods, include black carbon, a primary component of soot, tropospheric ozone, the principle component of urban smog, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), factory-made chemicals used in air conditioning, refrigeration, and insulating foams.


The bill designates these as “super pollutants” because they are hundreds to thousands of times more potent in their warming effects than carbon dioxide.  Collectively, these super climate pollutants” have contributed up to 45% of observed global warming to date. 


Because of their powerful warming impacts and the short time they remain in the atmosphere, reducing these pollutants is essential for slowing the rate of climate change in the near term and reducing dangerous climate impacts over the next several decades.  In addition, black carbon and tropospheric ozone are traditional air pollutants, and reducing them will help to prevent many of the estimated six million deaths that occur every year from air pollution and will reduce the burden of disease for many more, while also improving food security.


“The combined benefits for improving public health and food security, as well as reducing near-term warming, should make reducing super pollutants a no brainer that is welcomed across party lines,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.


Reducing these super pollutants worldwide can cut the rate of global warming in half over the next 40 years, avoid more than 0.6°C in cumulative warming by 2050 and 1.1°C or more warming by 2100.  “Reducing the super  pollutants is absolutely essential for staying below the 2°C guardrail,” said Zaelke.  “In addition to cutting the rate of global warming in half, fast action to reduce these pollutants can cut the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds, and the rate of warming over the elevated regions of the Himalayas and Tibet by at least half.” 


“The U.S. has shown leadership on short-lived climate pollutants at the international level by co-founding the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants,” said Zaelke. “But the U.S. is still among the largest emitters of HFCs in the world and per capita emitters of black carbon.  Taking decisive domestic actions will deliver concrete benefits here at home, and help restore U.S. leadership on climate protection worldwide.”



Congressman Scott Peter’s press release is here.


IGSD’s analysis of mitigation strategies for the SLCP Task Force is here.


IGSD’s Primer on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is here.


The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants website is here.



Contact Info: Durwood Zaelke [email protected], (202) 498-2457

Erin Tulley, (202) 338-1300, [email protected]

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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World First for Frozen Methane Hydrate Gas Extraction

Posted by admin on March 13th, 2013

In a world first, Japan says it has extracted natural gas successfully from frozen methane hydrate off its central shore.

Methane hydrate, dubbed “fire ice”, is a substance alike to sherbet found beneath the world’s continental shelves. The fossil fuel has been tipped by energy researchers to be the next significant energy source.

Experts say it could deliver an alternative energy resource for Japan, but other countries including China, the US and Canada have also been investigating means of exploiting the substance also.

Even in the UK, experts and government ministers suggested that beneath the western Shetland shore, huge quantities of methane hydrate could be sealed.

Though Energy Minister Charles Hendry said at that time that while it was a possibility, such evidence has not been established. Without the availability of commercial technology to exploit such resources, he added, no reserve estimates could be made.

In the last few years, pilot experiments using methane hydrates discovered beneath land ice, have demonstrated that the deposits can have methane extracted from them.

Since 2001 energy-importing Japan has invested several hundred million pounds in order to its off shore methane hydrate reserves.

As the world’s leading importer of liquefied natural gas, the country has been increasingly lured by the prospect of domestic gas resources, particularly since the Fukushima nuclear disaster two years ago.

Comparing methane hydrate to shale gas, director of the gas and oil sector at Japan’s Agency for Natural Resources, Ryo Minami said the equally marginal resource came 4to transform the American energy market.

“Ten years ago, everybody knew there was shale gas in the ground, but to extract it was too costly. Yet now it’s commercialised,” he said.

Production trials will continue for about a fortnight, according to Japan’s trade ministry, after which an analysis will show what quantity of gas was generated.

It is hoped that commercial production will be achieved within six years.

According to a Japanese study, at least 1.1 trillion cubic metres of methane hydrate are present in offshore deposits. This equates to over ten years of the country’s gas consumption.

While offshore deposits offer a potentially gigantic methane source, the unstable underwater geology containing them presents environmental concerns.

Image used for representational purposes only.

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Landmark Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants Celebrates First Anniversary Coalition taking fast action to reduce black carbon, HFCs, and methane

Posted by admin on February 19th, 2013

Nairobi, Kenya – The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC) celebrates its first anniversary tomorrow.  Launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an initial group of six country partners and the United Nations Environment Programme, the Coalition has quickly grown to 55 partners, including 27 countries, the European Commission, as well as the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and eighteen NGOs.


“In its first year the Coalition has been brilliant in developing a spirit of urgent optimism, a spirit that is critical for solving the daunting problem of climate change,” stated Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, one of the NGO members.  “And it’s already working on plans for taking its strategies to the scale it needs to meet the bold challenge of cutting the rate of warming in half for the next 40 years, with the World Bank pledging billions of new dollars for their efforts. The Coalition is a rare climate success story.”


The CCAC is the first-ever global effort specifically dedicated to reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). SLCPs include black carbon (soot), recently recognized as the second most powerful climate pollutant after carbon dioxide, methane and ground-level ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which are used as refrigerants and to make insulating foams.


To address these pollutants, the Coalition has undertaken a set of fast-action initiatives: reducing methane from urban landfills and from the oil and gas industry; reducing black carbon emissions from brick kilns and from heavy duty diesel vehicles and engines; promoting alternatives to HFCs; scaling up finance to reduce all SLCPs; and developing SLCP National Action Plans.  The Coalition is also developing additional proposals to address open burning of biomass and pollution from cookstoves.


Fast action to reduce SLCPs has the potential to cut the rate of climate change in half, slowing global temperature rise by up to ~0.6°C by 2050, while preventing 2.4 million air pollution-related deaths per year, and avoiding around 30 million tonnes of crop losses annually.  Reductions of SLCPs are complementary to reductions of carbon dioxide emissions and can often be achieved simultaneously.  If large-scale reductions of both SLCPs and carbon dioxide are undertaken immediately, there is still a high probability of keeping the increase in global temperature to less than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial temperature for the next 30 years and below the 2°C guardrail for the next 60 to 90 years.


“The success of the CCAC shows that more and more countries are now recognizing the multiple, cost-effective benefits that swift, coordinated action on SLCPs can deliver,” said UN Under Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, who put the CCAC at the top of his list of UNEP’s accomplishments in 2012. “UNEP has partnered with researchers for over ten years to bring the science of short-lived climate pollutants to the fore. This research clearly shows that action on SLCPs can deliver important near-term climate gains, and contribute to the achievement of health- and food security-related goals,” added Mr. Steiner, speaking from the UNEP Governing Council meeting in Nairobi.


In addition to cutting the rate of global warming in half, reducing emissions of SLCPs is particularly beneficial for some of the most vulnerable and threatened regions on the planet, including the Arctic, which is warming at more than twice the global average rate, and setting off self-amplifying warming feedbacks, according to UNEP’s Year Book 2013 released this week.  Addressing pollutants such as black carbon, which has especially powerful warming effects in regions of ice and snow, may be the most effective means of slowing and delaying imminent climate impacts in those regions in the near term.


IGSD has long been a champion of efforts to reduce HFCs, black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone, and serves as the NGO representative on the Coalition’s Steering Committee.


The CCAC website is here.

IGSD’s Primer on SLCPs is here.

Achim Steiner’s Policy Statement at the Opening of the First Universal Session of UNEP’s Governing Council is here.


Contact Info: Durwood Zaelke [email protected], (202) 498-2457
Erin Tulley, (202) 338-1300, [email protected]

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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Reducing Black Carbon, HFCs, Methane Key to Protecting Arctic in Near-Term, Say Arctic Ministers Sea ice loss and permafrost melt are self-amplifying feedbacks causing further warming Arctic Ministers urge “urgent action” to avoid irreversible global impacts

Posted by admin on February 7th, 2013

Washington, DC. – Arctic Environment Ministers are calling for “urgent action” to reduce black carbon, methane, and HFCs in order to help protect the Arctic and reduce the risk of setting off self-amplifying feedback mechanisms that accelerate warming and lead to irreversible impacts.  The Ministers’ call to action is presented in the Chair’s conclusions released today at the end of the two-day meeting in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden.


The Arctic Ministers acknowledged “the worrying scientific findings identifying large-scale tipping points in the Arctic, such as collapse of the Arctic summer sea-ice, accelerating melting of the Greenland ice sheet, releases of methane from melting permafrost, all of which, if crossed, may have substantial global effects.”  If the Greenland ice sheet were to disintegrate, it could lead to up to seven meters (23 feet) of sea level rise.


Ministers concluded that “decisive action” on black carbon, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) is needed, and “encouraged coordination and support for international and global efforts to address emissions.” The Ministers also encouraged the Arctic Council to consider a new “instrument or other arrangements to enhance efforts to reduce emissions of black carbon from the Arctic States” for decision at the 2015 Arctic Ministerial meeting.


“Reducing black carbon and the other short-lived climate pollutants can cut the rate of Arctic warming by two-thirds. We need a crash course that starts today with black carbon, which is responsible for half of the Arctic warming,” added Zaelke. “We need to reduce HFCs under the Montreal Protocol, as this is the single biggest, fastest, and cheapest climate mitigation available to the world today, avoiding the equivalent of 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.”


International efforts to limit global climate increase to 2°C above pre-Industrial level would still have “major and irreversible impacts on the environment and on the livelihood in the Arctic”, according to Arctic Environmental Ministers. The Ministers also “emphasized that substantial cuts in global emissions of carbon dioxide and other long-lived greenhouse gases are the backbone of any meaningful global climate change mitigation efforts.”


The “Discussion note” for the Arctic Environment Ministers Meeting is here.


Contact Info: Durwood Zaelke, (202) 338-1300, [email protected]

Erin Tulley, [email protected]

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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Universal Support in Rio for Phase-Down of HFCs for Climate Protection Bill Clinton, Mayor Blumberg join Climate & Clean Air Coalition to help reduce short-lived methane

Posted by admin on June 25th, 2012

From: Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
Published June 25, 2012 10:33 AM

Rio de Janeiro, 22 June 2012 – Today, more than a 100 heads of State and government adopted the Rio+20 declaration, The Future We Want, which supports a global phase-down of the factory-made super-greenhouse gases, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

This is the first universal recognition of the need to protect the climate by phasing down HFCs, super-greenhouse gases that molecule for molecule warm the climate hundreds to thousands of times more than carbon dioxide. HFCs are factory-made chemicals used in refrigeration and insulating foams.

“This global declaration is an important step toward a Planet free of climate damaging HFCs,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. “Phasing down HFCs is the biggest, fastest, cheapest piece of climate mitigation available to the world in the next few years, and it should be done immediately, and under the Montreal Protocol, the world’s most effective environmental treaty.”

Due to the growing demand for air conditioning in a warming world and to the ongoing phase-out of hydrochlorofluorocarbons under the Montreal Protocol, HFCs are the fastest growing climate pollutant in many countries including the US.  Globally HFCs are growing 10% to 15% per year, in China and India by 20% per year, and in the US by nearly 9% between 2009 and 2010.

Without fast action to limit this accelerating growth, the climate warming caused by HFCs could equal nearly 20% of the warming caused by CO2 by 2050, or about the same as current annual emissions from transport, and up to 40% of carbon dioxide warming if CO2 emissions are limited in line with present international goals.

Because HFCs remain in the atmosphere for only a short time—an average of 15 years compared to CO2, a quarter of which remains for thousands of years—reducing HFCs produces fast climate protection.

Proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs have been presented by the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as the United States, Canada, and Mexico.  The proposals would reduce 85% of HFC production and use, and produce climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050.  The Montreal Protocol treaty has already phased out nearly 100 chemicals similar to HFCs and set the stratospheric ozone layer on the path to mid-century recovery, while providing critical climate mitigation as well.

More than 100 Parties to the Montreal Protocol have supported action on HFCs, but Brazil, China, and India have, at least until now, held up agreement under that treaty. “This new consensus from Rio shows that momentum is building for a phase-down of HFCs, which inevitably will be through the Montreal Protocol,” said Zaelke.

Voluntary efforts to reduce HFCs use are also underway.  The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants, an 18 member group recently launched by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is making acceleration of climate-safe alternatives to HFCs one of its first fast action initiatives.  The Coalition is comprised of 15 countries, plus the UN Environment Program, the World Bank, and the European Commission.

In other developments to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, former President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Bloomberg announced in Rio that the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a coalition of 59 major cities around the world, was launching a new effort to reduce methane, which like HFCs, is another short-lived climate pollutant.  Mayor Blumberg stated that,

“we’re launching a new partnership with the World Bank, the Climate and Clean Air Coalition that was announced by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in February, and with other key leaders and institutions focused on improving air quality while also lessening climate change impacts. It will support a new C40 network that will help cities address an issue of urgent importance: Improving the management of city solid waste, including reducing the release of methane and other greenhouse gases.”

C40 partners will provide technical assistance to participating cities to develop programs and projects to cut methane emissions, access financing, and facilitate peer-learning and collaborative work. C40 works in partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation.

Along with HFCs and black carbon, methane is a key short-lived climate pollutants targeted by the Coalition. Because methane has a short atmospheric lifetime compared to CO2, cutting it can slow global warming quickly.  The amount of urban garbage is projected to double over the next 15 years, making landfill methane a top target for the C40 cities.

Former President Bill Clinton, who spoke in Rio via video conference, noted the near-term climate benefit of addressing short-lived climate pollutants, stating:

“As we all know methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons clear the atmosphere much quicker than carbon dioxide.  We need both these strategies, those that cut CO2 and those that produce the fastest results by cutting other pollutions.  If we focused on the methane, the black carbon, the hydrofluorocarbons we can reduce the rate of climate change for the next thirty years by half and reduce the change in the Arctic by up to two-thirds.  That’s why the Secretary of State has worked so hard on this issue and why she’s coming to Rio to push it.”

The Rio+20 Declaration is here. (See paragraph 222.)

The Micronesian Montreal Protocol proposed amendment is here; the North American one is here.

The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group announcement is here.

President Bill Clinton’s speech at C40 event in Rio is here (SLCPs at 28:45; full speech starts 22:55).

Contact Info: Nathan Borgford-Parnell: +1.202.338.1300, [email protected]

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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Hi-Tech Australian Cow Methane Emissions Study

Posted by admin on May 11th, 2012

Scientists in Australia are set to use hi-tech measuring equipment to try and establish the impact of cow emissions on climate change. Employing reflectors and lasers, they’ll attempt to get a much more accurate picture than previous studies of this kind have managed.

Spearheaded by the University of Melbourne, this is an emissions-monitoring programme also involving four other universities and CSIRO – the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

With agricultural emissions responsible for approximately 10 per cent of all Australia’s greenhouse gas output, they’ll aim to deliver a better way of measuring and managing methane emissions in Northern Australia, whose cattle population is believed to account for no less than five per cent of the nation’s emissions total.

Cow Methane Emissions

According to the University of Melbourne’s Professor Deli Chen, who’s one of this cow methane emissions programme’s leaders, the scientists will use innovative techniques and observe these cows grazing in real-time.

One method will involve laser beams which, after being streamed across a several-hundred metre range, will hit a reflector, sending them back again. “The frequency of the laser is sensitive to the methane gases in the air”, Professor Chen explained, “[so)…we can measure the concentration of the methane gases across the paddock.”

Australian Cow Emissions

This Australian cow emissions study’s been named the Livestock Methane Research Cluster and, in further comments, Professor Chen referred to it as “a critical step if we are to help agriculture reduce its emissions because, if you can’t measure, you can’t mitigate.”

Australia’s presently aiming to have achieved an overall 80 per cent greenhouse gas emissions reduction by the middle of this century, compared to 2000 levels.

Methane, while less publically-visibly than CO2, is nonetheless a highly powerful greenhouse gas. A carbon/hydrogen compound with no odour and no colour, methane is highly effective at trapping solar energy and is twenty times better at doing this than carbon.

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Key Allies Join Second Front in Climate War: Five initiatives launched targeting short-lived climate pollutants black carbon, methane, and HFCs

Posted by admin on April 28th, 2012

Stockholm, 24 April 2012.  The second front in the war against climate change just got major reinforcements in the effort to reduce black carbon (soot), methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), collectively known as short-lived climate pollutants because they remain in the air to warm the Earth for only a few days to a decade and a half.  Reducing them can cut the rate of global warming by half or more for the next 30 to 40 years, providing critical protection for the Arctic, Himalayas, and other vulnerable regions, while saving millions of lives a year and reducing crop damage, providing a substantial boost for development.


The European Union, Norway, Japan, Nigeria, Colombia, and the World Bank announced today that they have joined the Coalition for Climate and Clean Air to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants, launched in February by three developing (Mexico, Ghana, and Bangladesh) and three developed countries (Sweden, US, and Canada), along with the United Nations Environment Programme.  The Coalition concluded its inaugural Ministerial meeting today in Stockholm.  Many other countries are poised to join shortly.


Initial funding for the Coalition has been provided by the US and Canada.  Sweden and Norway announced today that they would contribute as well.  The World Bank announced they have $ 12 billion in their portfolio that can contribute to the Coalition goals, and noted the need for urgent action to reduce the short-lived climate pollutants.


Five initiatives aimed at accelerating and scaling-up action against the short-lived pollutants were approved by the Ministers meeting in Stockholm yesterday and today. (They are listed in the appendix.)


Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, who attended the inaugural meeting in Stockholm, stated, “The Coalition may be the single most important development for climate protection in the past ten years. It focuses on fast-action climate mitigation that can be done today with existing technologies by willing partners.  It has the potential not only to reduce a major part of climate pollution, but to build the momentum and confidence we need to successfully manage carbon dioxide from energy production, which is essential for keeping the Planet’s long term temperature increase to an acceptable level.”


Many scientists calculate that global temperature cannot increase more than 2°C above pre-Industrial levels without risking major and perhaps catastrophic climate impacts, including devastating sea-level rise and punishing storm surges, as well as droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events.  Major cuts in carbon dioxide are essential to stay below 2°C in the longer term, along with cuts to the short-lived climate pollutants.


Zaelke said, “To win the climate war, we need to cut both the short-lived climate pollutants and long-lived carbon dioxide, the most damaging gas.  Fortunately, we’re gaining allies quickly in the second front of the fight against black carbon, methane, and HFCs.  A victory on this front will build the confidence we need to win the war.”  The short-lived climate pollutants are responsible for 40 to 45% of all warming, with carbon dioxide, a substantial portion of which remains in the air for millennia, responsible for the other 55-60%.



Appendix


[This is excerpted from UNEP’s press release today on the Coalition meeting]


Assessment and Go-Ahead for Scaled-up Initiatives


The meeting assessed around a dozen initiatives proposed by developed and developing countries for fast and federated action on short lived climate pollutants including many happening already at the national level.


Delegates took forward five to be approved for rapid implementation by ministers on the final day. Those given the green light include:

  • Fast action on diesel emissions including from heavy duty vehicles and engines

Studies show that reductions are possible by addressing emissions from the freight transportation supply chain, through city action plans, and adoption of a range of measures for reducing sulphur in fuels and vehicle emissions

  • Upgrading old inefficient brick kilns which are a significant source of black carbon emissions

Mexico has for example [20,000] small and medium-sized brick kilns and the design of many of the [6,000] in Bangladesh hark back to the 1900s.

  • Accelerating the reduction of methane emissions from landfills

World-wide the waste management sector contributes about 11% of global methane emissions, and the coalition will work with cities to reduce methane emissions from landfills by improving strategic municipal solid waste planning and providing technical assistance.

  • Speeding up cuts in methane and other emissions from the oil and gas industry

Natural gas venting and leakage from the oil and gas industry accounts for over one fifth of global man-made emissions of methane: Flaring at oil installations generate both methane and black carbon emissions. An estimated one third of leaks and venting can be cut using existing technologies at low cost.

  • Accelerating alternatives to HFCs

HFCs are being rapidly introduced as replacements to chemicals that can damage the ozone layer—the Earth’s protective shield that filters out hazardous ultra violet light.


The Coalition aims to fast track more environmentally-friendly and cost effective alternatives and technologies to avoid HFC growth.

  • Additional initiatives – including a proposal by Ghana on agricultural/forest open burning and a proposal by Bangladesh on cookstoves – would be further developed over the coming weeks.

Trust Fund Established


To support the Coalition’s efforts, a new Trust Fund managed by a UNEP-hosted secretariat was agreed today.


Initial financing pledges for the Coalition now amount to some $ 16.7 million with significantly more funds expected over the coming 12 months.


Science Advisory Panel


Sound science has underpinned the formation of the Coalition and will guide its work into the future. Ministers today asked three luminaries involved in short lived climate pollutant work to advise them on the formation of a dedicated world-class Science Advisory Panel to provide scientific advice to the Coalition.


The advice will be provided by Drew Shindell of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Mario Molina, the distinguished Mexican chemist and 1995 Nobel Prize co-winner and Veerabhadran Ramanathan, chair of the UNEP Atmospheric Brown Cloud project based at the University of California San Diego,


Coalition Web Site Goes Live


The Coalition today also unveiled a dedicated web site to support dissemination of information about the initiative’s role and partners http://www.unep.org/ccac/


Notes to Editors


Quotes from Other Newly Joining Partners


Colombia


Frank Pearl, the Colombian Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, said:” “Colombia has recognized for some time the urgency of acting on these short lived climate pollutants including the impacts of black carbon on public health and the accelerated melting of glaciers the high mountain areas of Latin America”.


“Colombia is among several countries in our region to act on soot particles from vehicles and other contaminating sources as well as emissions that are triggering tropospheric or ground level ozone—another short lived climate pollutants,” he said.


“In joining the Coalition we see not only potential national and global benefits but Colombia plans to act as a regional hub, reaching out to other countries in Latin America in order to generate regional opportunities for sustainable development,” said Mr Pearl.


Nigeria


Mrs Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia , Nigerian Minister of the Environment said: “Nigeria is delighted to be a new member of the Coalition. It is estimated that 95,000 women in my country die each year prematurely because of black carbon emissions from source such as inefficient cook stoves–this is a conservative estimate. Meanwhile there are enormous opportunities for reducing methane emissions from sources such as the oil and gas industry and landfills that can benefit Nigeria and its people and the wider regional and global ambitions to combat climate change in a cost effective and economic way”.


“We look to encourage more countries within Africa and beyond to join this inspiring initiative so that fast action can be federated everywhere in order to save lives, improve food security and tackle climate change which challenges the future of the poor and the vulnerable exponentially,” she added.


Norway


Bård Vegar Solhjell, the Norwegian Minister of the Environment, said: “Norway is delighted to join the Coalition. It unites our country’s interest in achieving national sustainability with international responsibilities in the areas of health, food security, climate and development”.


“There are many international initiatives addressing these short term pollutants, and Norway is participating in several of them. In this Coalition the United Nations Environment Program participates, both as partner and as Secretariat for the Coalition. This is a very wise decision, which provides credibility and leverage and increases the value of the Coalition´s work”, he added.


“Finally it echoes to Norway’s interest in the Green Economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication—a key issue  for the upcoming Rio+20 Summit in June—in which well-targeted policy and financial interventions can catalyze benefits across multiple fronts,” said Mr Solhjell.


World Bank


“From multi-billion dollar investments in clean energy each year to climate smart solutions for agriculture and cities, the Bank already targets short-term environmental pollutants in developing countries through our lending, data and evidence based knowledge sharing and technical assistance. But, we can achieve even more by working as a coalition,” said Rachel Kyte, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development.


“This is the most important decade for action on climate change”, Kyte said. “But with a global treaty that will speed the curbing of carbon dioxide many years off, the climate and clean air coalition puts a practical new deal on the table – one that helps slow global warming while reducing the soot and smog that is damaging food crops and health worldwide, undermining growth and development.”


Aims of the Coalition

  • To catalyze the speed and the scale of action on short lived climate pollutants

  • Enhance existing and develop new national actions to address mitigation gaps

  • Encourage existing and new regional actions

  • Reinforce and track existing efforts to reduce these pollutants, promoting opportunities for greater international coordination and developing and improving inventories

  • Identify barriers to action and seeking to surmount them

  • Promote best practices or available technologies and showcase successful efforts to address short lived climate forcers

  • Improve understanding of and review scientific progress on short lived climate pollutants, their impacts and benefits of mitigation and dissemination of knowledge; and

  • Mobilize targeted support for those developing countries that require resources to develop their capacity and to implement actions consistent with national strategies to support sustainable development

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Term Climate Pollutants was launched in Washington DC on 17 February 2012.


http://www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/HFC_report.pdf


http://www.unep.org/dewa/Portals/67/pdf/Black_Carbon.pdf


http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/183


For More Information Please Contact Nick Nuttall, Acting Director UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information/UNEP Spokesperson, on Tel: +254 733 632755, E-mail: [email protected]


Contact Info: Ella Haines: +1.202.338.1300, [email protected]

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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