Posts Tagged ‘ShortLived’

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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Growing Enthusiasm for Reducing Short-Lived Climate Pollutant for Fast Climate Mitigation Ministers meet in Doha on margins of UN climate talks

Posted by admin on December 6th, 2012

Washington, DC – 25 Ministers met today in a high-level assembly in a small room on the side of the UNFCCC negotiations in Doha, and along with representatives from UNEP the World Bank, and several NGOs, pledged to increase their scale of action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). Success in reducing SLCPs including black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone, and HFCs at the global level can cut the rate of global warming in half for the next 40 years and by two-thirds in the Arctic.


The Coalition pledged to keep the spirit and enthusiasm of the founding group, and the speed of action that has been achieved during the first ten months. The Coalition also welcomed six new country partners. Chile, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, the Maldives, the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea bring the number of partners in the CCAC to almost 50. The Coalition was originally founded by six countries in February 2012.


“The Coalition’s success will help overcome some the disappointment and despair many here are feeling at the pace of climate protection–despair that we do not have the collective wisdom nor the skill to protect our climate,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of  the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD).


Fast-action strategies to reduce SLCPs combined with necessary reductions in carbon dioxide are essential for slowing already accelerating extreme weather events in the near-term, such as the current record-breaking droughts in the South Central United States, while maintaining global temperature at or below 2°C above preindustrial levels through the end of the century.  Beyond the 2°C threshold, global temperature increases present the risk of major and perhaps catastrophic climate impacts, including devastating sea-level rise and punishing storm surges, as well as even more severe and frequent droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events. Fast action on black carbon and methane have the potential to slow a global temperature rise by up to 0.5°C by 2050, reduce air pollution-related deaths by as much as 2.4 million and crop losses by around 30 million tonnes annually.


“Reducing these climate pollutants not only harmonizes development and climate concerns but it is also critical for protecting the world’s most vulnerable regions and people, particularly women and children, from the worst impacts of climate change,” stated Romina Picolotti, former Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development for Argentina and first NGO representative to the CCAC Steering Committee.


“The Coalition’s success will create more success; success truly breeds success” Zaelke added. “Those gathered in the small room in Doha are creating the sense of urgent optimism the world needs to solve all of climate change, including the CO2 part, which all recognize is the largest cause of climate change and essential to aggressively address.”


The UNEP Press Release is here.


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


Former President Bill Clinton addresses SLCPs in video remarks at the C40 event at Rio+20 here.


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

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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Floridian Scientists, Officials Call on Presidential Candidates to Debate Sea-Level Rise Threatening 40% of U.S. Population; Reducing short-lived climate pollutants can provide fast mitigation

Posted by admin on October 12th, 2012

From: Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
Published October 11, 2012 04:04 PM

Washington, DC 11 October 2012 – Today more than a hundred scientists and government officials in Florida called on the Presidential candidates to address the danger of sea level rise at the third and final presidential debate in Boca Raton on October 22.  Sea levels have already risen by nearly 8 inches on Florida’s coasts and could cost the state billions to repair and reinforce drainage, water supply systems, roads and other infrastructure to cope with the rising water. At current rates, sea level rise will increase by 50% by 2060, a conservative estimate according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

 “Because Florida is so densely populated, it is estimated 40 percent of the population and housing units at risk from sea level rise in the nation are here, in the state of Florida,” according to the letter.

“Florida is ground zero for sea level rise and many other damaging climate impacts, including hurricanes and devastating storm surges,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development. “The human and economic impacts of climate change are already being felt today and politicians can no longer afford to ignore climate change.  We need fast action to limit the current impacts and prevent even worse impacts in the future.”

“Taking fast action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as black carbon, tropospheric ozone, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) has the potential to cut the rate of global warming in half over the next thirty to forty years,” said Zaelke, “and significantly slow the rate of sea-level rise.”  He added, “Cutting SLCPs can also reduce the rate of warming in the vulnerable Arctic by even more – up to two-thirds.”  This is critical because warming in the Arctic has the potential to set off dangerous feedback loops that cause warming to accelerate in the region, triggering further melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which scientists predict could contribute to up to a 6 foot rise in sea level by the end of the century.

The Obama Administration launched the Climate & Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants earlier this year.  The Coalition is undertaking fast-action mitigation projects to reduce SLCPs.  It now has 19 partners from developing and developed countries, along with the World Bank, UNEP, and the European Commission.  IGSD represents NGOs on the Steering Committee.   Zaelke stated, “Success with these fast-action mitigation projects will help slow sea-level rise and other climate impacts, if the Coalition can quickly reach sufficient scale.”

The Florida letter is here.

The Climate & Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants is here.

A description of strategies to reduce short-lived climate pollutants is here.

Contact Info: Erin Tulley: +1.202.338.1300, [email protected]

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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Arctic Sea Ice Levels Hit Record Low Reducing black carbon and other short-lived climate pollutants key to slowing Arctic warming

Posted by admin on August 29th, 2012

From: Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
Published August 28, 2012 02:39 PM

Washington, DC 28 August 2012 – Arctic sea ice has hit record lows with weeks still to go in the melt season, an indication of accelerating global warming.  Arctic sea ice has reached the lowest level ever observed in the three decades since polar cap observations began, according to scientists from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

“The Arctic is already warming at twice the global average, and the loss of sea ice and its ability to reflect heat back to space is now starting to melt the permafrost, which is releasing still more climate-warming gases,”, said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.  “This feedback loop is pushing us closer to one of the first tipping points that could cause irreversible climate damage.”

Zaelke added, “Reducing black carbon soot and 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, or about 1.0C.”  Other short-lived climate pollutants include methane, which is being released from the thawing permafrost, and hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs.

Scientists last year predicted that the Artic could be free of summer sea ice in the next thirty to forty years and sea-levels could rise up to 5 feet by the end of the century with melting snow and ice in the Arctic making a significant contribution.

“In addition to a crash course to cut black carbon in the Arctic,” Zaelke said that “we also need to phase down HFCs through the Montreal Protocol, which is one of the biggest and fastest and cheapest ways to mitigate climate change.”

Other efforts to reduce short-lived climate pollutants are underway in new Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, launched by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this year.  There are now 27 members of the Coalition.  IGSD sits on the Steering Committee of the Coalition as the representative of nongovernmental organizations.

According to a recent UNEP/WMO report, full implementation of a package of sixteen emission reduction measures targeting black carbon and ozone precursors, including methane, can cut the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds and the rate of global warming by half for the next 30 to 60 years.

IGSD Press Release “Dramatic Sea Level Rise Expected From Faster Melting of Arctic Snow and Ice” (6 May 2011) is here.

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

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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IGSD Designated NGO Lead on Steering Committee of Landmark Climate and Clean Air Coalition To Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

Posted by admin on August 27th, 2012

From: Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
Published August 27, 2012 11:16 AM

Washington DC, 27 August 2012 – The Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, long a champion of efforts to reduce HFCs, black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone, has joined the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC).  The Institute has been elected to serve as the NGO representative on the Coalition’s Steering Committee, while UNEP will represent Inter-Governmental Organizations.

“The Coalition has the potential to be the catalyst for cutting the rate of climate change in half for the next 30 to 40 years, while saving millions of lives a year and preventing significant crop losses,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD).  “IGSD is fully committed to helping the Coalition achieve these planet-saving goals.”

For the past several years, IGSD has been spearheading national, regional, and international strategies to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), as part of a suite of fast-action strategies that can be started in the next two to three years, be substantially implemented in ten years, and produce a response in the climate system on a timescale of decades, using existing legal and institutional mechanisms whenever feasible. 

IGSD’s strategies are described in a paper co-authored with Nobel Laureate Mario Molina in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Molina M., Zaelke D., Sarma K.M., Andersen S.O., Ramanathan V., Reducing abrupt climate change risk using the Montreal Protocol and other regulatory actions to complement cuts in CO2 emissions (2009).

Fast-action strategies to reduce SLCPs combined with necessary reductions in carbon dioxide are essential for slowing already accelerating extreme weather events in the near-term, such as the current record-breaking droughts in the South Central United States, while maintaining global temperature at or below 2°C above pre-industrial levels through the end of the century. Beyond the 2°C threshold, global temperature increases present the risk of major and perhaps catastrophic climate impacts, including devastating sea-level rise and punishing storm surges, as well as even more severe and frequent droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events.

“Reducing these climate pollutants not only harmonizes development and climate concerns but it is also critical for protecting the world’s most vulnerable regions and people, particularly women and children, from the worst impacts of climate change,” stated Romina Picolotti, former Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development for Argentina and first NGO representative to the CCAC Steering Committee. “This ground-breaking coalition has the potential to catalyze fast action to help the people who need it the most, and IGSD is honored to represent the NGOs partners in this endeavor.”

The Coalition’s Secretariat is housed by UNEP in its Paris office and supported by initial funding from the US, Canada, Sweden and Norway.  The World Bank calculates that they already have $ 12 billion in their existing portfolio contributing to the Coalition’s goals, and the G8 leaders in May commissioned the Bank to prepare a report on ways to integrate reductions of these short-lived climate pollutants into their activities and to assess funding options for methane reduction.  The Coalition has approved five initial fast-action initiatives: reducing methane from urban landfills; reducing emissions from brick kilns; reducing black carbon emissions from heavy duty diesel vehicles and engines; promoting alternatives to HFCs; and reducing emissions from the oil and gas industry.

IGSD’s web site is here: www.igsd.org

Climate & Clean Air Coalition’s web site is here: http://www.unep.org/ccac/

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

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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Split Decision this Week for Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

Posted by admin on July 27th, 2012

From: Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development
Published July 26, 2012 06:24 PM

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition Continues to Expand while a Small Coalition of States Again Stalls Progress to Reduce HFCs Under the Montreal Protocol in the Face of Stronger and more Vocal Support

Washington DC, 26 July 2012 – This has been a rough week in the fight against climate, leaving many advocates feeling justifiably bruised.  The New York Times has reported that record breaking droughts across North America are effecting 88% of the U.S. corn crop and will likely drive up prices on staple groceries next year.  NASA added to the onslaught, announcing that 97% percent of Greenland’s ice sheet surface had thawed in the month of July, more than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations.  However, climate advocates gave as good as they got, as momentum to address short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) continues to build through the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).

Seven new country partners including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan and the United Kingdom joined the CCAC at a Coalition working group meeting in Paris from 24-25 July.  This brings the total number of partners up to 21.  The CCAC has grown quickly in the six months since it first announced by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an original six members from developing and developed countries.

“Fast success cutting short-lived climate pollutants will slow the accelerating rate of global and regional warming, save millions of lives each year, and increase food security,” announced Durwood Zaelke, President of IGSD, one of the first NGOs to join the Coalition. “Pursuing the CCAC’s goals will build the sense of urgent optimism and confidence that we need to continuously strengthen ambition to undertake the problem of CO2, which is essential to limiting the Planet’s long-term temperature increase to an acceptable level.”

Taking fast action to reduce SLCPs including black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), is a critical climate strategy which can cut the rate of global warming in half for the next several decades, cut the rate of warming over the elevated regions of the Himalayas and Tibet by at least half, and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds over the next 30 years.  Since many SLCPs are also potent air pollutants cutting them can also prevent up to 4.7 million premature deaths each year and prevent billions of dollars in crop losses.

The CCAC Secretariat is housed by UNEP in its Paris offices and is supported by initial funding from the US, Canada, Sweden and Norway.  The World Bank has announced that they have $ 12 billion in their portfolio that can contribute to the Coalition goals and the G8 leaders in May commissioned the Bank to prepare a report on ways to integrate reductions of SLCPs into their activities and to assess funding options for methane reduction.  In September the CCAC approved five initial fast-action initiatives to accelerate action to reduce SLCPs.

At the Working Group Meeting the CCAC announced significant progress on the five initiatives including:

  • a new partnership with the Global Methane Initiative, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and the Clinton Climate Initiative to reduce methane and black carbon emissions from urban waste,
  • work with UNEP’s existing sulphur reduction efforts to address black carbon emissions from diesel generators,
  • cooperation with the Global Methane Initiative, the Natural Gas STAR International Program, and the Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) Partnership to combat emissions from the oil and gas industry, and
  • Mexico announced a Coalition workshop in September to advance action in the region on SLCPs, including how to assist countries to switch to more efficient and mechanized ‘firing’ technologies for brick kilns

Meanwhile, at the 32nd Montreal Protocol Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting, progress to phase-down HFCs under the treaty was stalled by a small coalition of countries led by China, India, and Brazil.  The OEWG meeting, which began on the 24th will close on the 27th, was preceded by an industry showcase, organized by the CCAC, to highlight climate-friendly alternatives to super-greenhouse gas HFCs.  The conference was attended by more than 400 representatives from industry, government and civil society and showed that a broad range of alternatives are already available to replace HFCs.

For the past three years proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase-down HFCs have been presented by Federated States of Micronesia as well as the United States, Canada and Mexico have submitted similar proposed amendments.  The proposals would reduce 85% of HFC production and use, and produce climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050.

Due to their increasing use as substitutes for HCFC refrigerants currently being phased-down under the Montreal Protocol, HFCs are the fastest growing greenhouse gases in many countries including the US.  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.

Over the past few years support has been building behind the HFC amendments.  Since 2011, 107 Parties to the Treaty have signed the Bangkok Declaration calling for HFCs to be replaced with chemicals that have a low impact on global warming.  In Brazil last month more than a hundred heads of State signed the Rio+20 Declaration The Future We Want which called for:

222. We recognize that the phase-out of ozone-depleting substances is resulting in a rapid increase in the use and release of high global-warming potential hydrofluorocarbons to the environment. We support a gradual phase-down in the consumption and production of hydrofluorocarbons.

Many parties had hoped to take the first step this week in Bangkok by creating a formal Contact Group to negotiate the terms and schedule for a phase-down of high-GWP HFCs.  Despite the opposition advocates for the amendment have become stronger and more vocal, while its opponents presented arguments which are increasingly seen as efforts to allow a few out of touch companies survive a few years longer at the world’s expense.

“These three countries hold the key to the amendment and the safety of the most vulnerable peoples and places for the next 30 to 60 years,” said Zaelke.  “The question is whether China is ready to be a global leader and help the world’s most vulnerable countries.”

UNEP’s press releas for CCAC meeting is here

The Micronesia HFC Proposal is here

The North American HFC Proposal is here

Contact Info: Nathan Borgford-Parnell: +1.202.338.1300, [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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Secretary Clinton Promotes Cutting Short-Lived Climate Pollutants to Protect Arctic Launches awareness raising campaign with Sweden

Posted by admin on June 8th, 2012

Washington, D.C., 7 June 2012. – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued her campaign to cut short-lived climate pollutants during her visit to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, emphasizing the importance of protecting the Arctic, and launching an awareness raising campaign.


Observing the effects of climate change on this vulnerable region, Clinton noted, “The waters don’t freeze, even in the dead of winter. The ice shelves that have crumbled no longer protect coastlines from erosion. Species are at risk.”


Clinton urged fast action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) and encouraged support for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants as an international mechanism for tackling this issue. Secretary Clinton launched the Coalition in February and the leaders of the G8 joined last month.


Clinton explained that the Coalition will “focus on what are called short-lived climate pollutants – methane, black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons.” Together SLCPs contribute up to 40% or more of climate warming.


“By preventing SLCPs emissions, we can significantly reduce near-term climate change and at the same time save 2.5 million lives per year, increase crop yields and food security, and promote gender equality and women’s rights across the globe,” noted Swedish Minister for Environment Ek.  By itself, black carbon may be responsible for half of the warming in the Arctic.


The consequences of climate change, specifically the effect of black carbon and other SLCPs, threaten the future of the Arctic. Without immediate and substantial mitigation efforts the melting of polar ice, subsequent rising sea levels, and the loss of methane stored in permafrost will destroy the Arctic, a critical component of our global climate system.  Sea levels could rise up to 5 feet within the next century according to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.


Minister Ek emphasized that short-lived climate pollutants “represent a golden opportunity to slow down climate warming in the near term.” Cutting these pollutants using existing technologies and often existing laws and institutions can cut the rate of global warming in half for the next 30 to 40 years, and in the Arctic by two-thirds, according to a recent assessment by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization.


Secretary Clinton added, “While we continue to work on bringing down carbon dioxide emissions and finalizing an international agreement, let’s also deliver a blow to methane, black carbon, and HFCs. We are poised to do both, and we should.” UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook-5, launched yesterday on the eve of the Rio+20 Summit on 20-22 June, noted limited progress on climate protection since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, with carbon dioxide emissions growing nearly 40% through 2010. 


Secretary Clinton’s remarks are here: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Minister Ek’s remarks are here.


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

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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President Obama, Other G8 Leaders Commit to Cutting Short-Lived Climate Pollutants; G8 joins new Climate and Clean Air Coalition with UNEP and World Bank

Posted by admin on May 21st, 2012

Washington D.C., 21 May 2012. – President Obama announced Saturday at the conclusion of the G8 Summit at Camp David, Maryland that the G8 leaders have committed to cutting short-lived climate pollutants to mitigate near-term climate change, save lives, and improve crop yields, and have joined the new Climate and Clean Air Coalition for Reducing Short Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC).


The G8 leaders committed to taking comprehensive action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants as a compliment to reducing CO2, describing the new effort as a means to promote “increased mitigation ambition” to protect the climate.  The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to limit the increase in global temperatures to less than 2°C over pre-industrial levels, to phase-out inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies over the medium term, and to increase food security.  They also expressed strong support to implement the Cancun agreements and the Durban Platform, which calls for the adoption of a new climate protocol by 2015, to come into force by 2020.


“The President’s announcement puts the short-lived climate pollutant strategy where it belongs—firmly in the hands of the leaders of the world’s largest economies,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “The Climate and Clean Air Coalition focuses on fast-action climate mitigation that can be done today with existing technologies by willing partners, and takes a solution-oriented approach that is showing the world that it’s possible to start meeting the climate challenge.” 


Zaelke added, “The strategy to reduce short-lived climate pollutants not only reduces a major part of climate pollution, save millions of lives a year, and increase food security, but it also builds 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.”


Short-lived climate pollutants include black carbon soot, methane, and hydrofluorocarbons, which are factory-made gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning and the fastest growing climate pollutant in the U.S.


Reducing the short-lived climate pollutants can cut the rate of climate change in half and in the Arctic by two-thirds for the next 30 to 40 years, according to a recent assessment by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization carried out by more than 50 of the world’s leading climate scientists.


The G8 also commissioned the World Bank to prepare a report on ways to integrate reductions of short-lived climate pollutants into their activities and to assess funding options for methane reductions.


The Coalition was first announced in February by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and until today was made up of 13 members from both developing and developed countries including: the US, Canada, Mexico, Ghana, Japan, Bangladesh, Sweden, Norway, Nigeria, Colombia, the World Bank, European Commission, and UNEP.


The addition of the other G8 members including Russia, Italy, France, the UK, and Germany, brings the Coalition up to 18 members.


The President’s press video is here (at 5:10 min).  The G8 Leader’s Camp David Declaration is here.  The accompanying Fact Sheet: G8 Action on Climate and Energy is here.


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

Website : Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development

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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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