AIR POLLUTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE: DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATED CO-BENEFITS STRATEGIES

Abstract:

This paper reports the major conclusions of the ‘Air pollution and climate change: Developing a framework for integrated co-benefits strategies’, conference, held in Stockholm in September 2008. The conference was organized by the secretariat of the Global Atmospheric Pollution Forum as part of its ongoing programme on co-benefits under the auspices of the UNECE Convention on LRTAP and UNEP, in consultation with the Secretariat of the UNFCCC. It brought together 110 international policy-makers and scientists from 30 countries to consider integrated air pollution and climate policies that lead to increased health and/or climate benefits and decreased costs. The key conclusions that emerged were inter alia:

• Strategies to reduce black carbon, ozone and methane have immediate climate benefits, as well as important air quality benefits.
• Air pollution abatement policies that decrease sulphate and some other aerosols to help protect human health and the environment, will produce acceleration of warming because of the ‘cooling’ effect of these aerosols on climate. This warming could be alleviated to some degree by reducing the short-lived warming agents, methane, ozone and black carbon, and emphasizes the urgent need to decrease these substances.
• In both developing and industrialized countries, abatement of air pollution and mitigation of climate change have generally been treated separately, although there are large benefits in considering the control options together.
• Countries without well established air pollution control systems have the opportunity to develop ground-breaking integrated systems more simply and cost-effectively than countries where well established air pollution regulatory systems are already in place.
• To develop co-benefits strategies, enhanced collaboration and communication between key climate change and air pollution stakeholders are considered essential at international, regional. national and local scales; these include government departments and industry.
• The national level may be the most important for developing co-benefit strategies, since the content and focus of such strategies are likely to differ from region to region and country to country.
• Existing regional air pollution networks, climate networks, inter-governmental agencies and agreements can play an important role in linking the climate and air pollution communities at different scales.

The recommendations from the conference are being formally submitted to UNEP, the Convention on LRTAP, the UNFCCC, as well as national governments, policy makers and other relevant stakeholders.