Fri, Nov 25, 2011
The report outlines 16 measures,
including the the capture of methane from
landfill sites.
London/Nairobi, 25 November
2011-A package of 16 measures could, if
fully implemented across the globe, save
close to 2.5 million lives a year; avoid
crop losses amounting to 32 million tonnes
annually and deliver near-term climate protection
of about half a degree C by 2040.
The report estimates
that implementing these measures would help
keep a global temperature rise below the
2 degrees C target, at least until mid-century.
Summary of UNEP's Integrated
Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric
Ozone
Speech by Achim Steiner at Ministerial Meeting
on Short Lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs) in
MexicoThe measures, outlined in a new report
compiled by the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP) with an international team of experts,
target short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs)—black
carbon which is a major component of soot,
methane and tropospheric ozone.
The report emphasizes
that fast action on short-lived climate
forcers will not be able to keep global
temperature rise to under 2 degrees C by
the end of the century, unless governments
decisively act on the principle greenhouse
gas, carbon dioxide (CO2).
The report, funded by
the Government of Sweden, estimates that
around half of the black carbon and methane
emission reductions can be achieved through
measures that result in cost savings over
the lifetime of the investment.
This is because some
of the measures—such as recovering rather
than emitting natural gas during oil production—allow
the methane to be harvested as a clean source
of fuel.
Cutting black carbon
emissions by, for example, replacing inefficient
cookstoves and traditional brick kilns with
more efficient ones, also cuts fuel costs
for households and kiln operators.
The report points to
other economic, social and environmental
benefits that are not included in the overall
cost-estimates of this assessment. These
include:
Upgrading wastewater
treatment works will help cut emissions
of methane, while improving sanitation and
water quality.
Recovery of coal mine
methane - carried out for occupational safety
reasons as well as for the economic value
of methane as a clean-burning energy source
- will have significant climate and health
benefits.
The report has been
requested by developed and developing countries
and builds on some ten years of scientific
research, first, through the UNEP Atmospheric
Brown Cloud project, and more recently via
assessments by UNEP and the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO).
In June this year, UNEP
and the WMO released their Integrated Assessment
of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone report,
underlining the likely health, agricultural
and climate benefits of fast action on these
pollutants.
The June report also
spotlighted the link between methane emissions
and the formation of tropospheric ozone,
concluding that methane is contributing
by around 50 per cent to increases in background
ozone concentrations world-wide.
This, in part, explains
why the concentrations of tropospheric ozone
in the northern hemisphere have tripled
over the past 100 years.
Indeed, tropospheric
ozone has become the third most important
contributor to man-made climate change,
after carbon dioxide and methane itself.
Tropospheric ozone also
reduces crop yields and damages human health,
when inhaled.
Black carbon, together
with other components of particulate matter
- emitted as a result of inefficient burning
from a wide range of sources, including
cook stoves and diesel engines - is a major
cause of premature deaths, resulting from
outdoor and indoor pollution.
It is also likely to
heat up the atmosphere and, when deposited
onto ice caps and glaciers, can accelerate
melting because less sunlight is reflected
back into space.
Fast action on short-lived
climate forcers could significantly cut
the rate of warming in the Arctic and reduce
projected warming in 2040 by 0.7 degrees
C, with important implications for the lives
and livelihoods of Arctic peoples, biodiversity
and global sea-level rise.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"The scientific case for fast action
on these so-called 'Short-Lived Climate
Forcers' has been steadily built over more
than a decade—the question governments have
been asking over recent months is what are
the options and priorities for action and
the likely costs and benefits in order to
advance a response to rapidly manage these
substances."
"This report provides
that analysis and offers pathways and policies
that may allow nations, acting nationally,
regionally and globally, to achieve some
remarkable gains in terms of a transition
to a low emission, resource efficient Green
Economy over the near term."
"For some countries
the most important benefits result from
cost-effective improvements in air pollution
and reduced illness and loss of life—black
carbon, for example, could be controlled
under national and regional air quality
agreements. Other countries are also recognizing
the food security benefits in terms of reduced
crop damage in a world of seven billion
people," said Mr. Steiner.
"For others, it
may be the regional and global climate benefits
that are uppermost in their minds—whatever
the motivation, this report presents the
costs and the benefits that can play their
part towards a sustainable 21st century
as governments head towards Rio+20 in June,
next year," he added.
Key Options for Fast
Action to Implement Measure to Reduce SLCFs
Fast action on short
lived climate forcers will be required to
deliver climate change, health and agricultural
benefits over the near term.
The report groups actions
into four categories based on relative costs,
while also looking at regional benefits
and regional sources of the different pollutants.
The 16 measure identified
in the report are organized into four categories,
based on their relative cost. All have been
tried and tested to varying levels in a
variety of countries. For example, most
European countries have already banned the
burning of agricultural wastes, which can
be expanded to other regions.
More efficient cookstoves
are already being introduced in many parts
of the world, including West Africa, China
and India.
Emissions standards,
such as the Euro 6/VI, are being introduced
for vehicles in Europe and other members
of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) as well as in some
non-OECD countries.
Black Carbon
In total, nine priority
measures are identified for reducing black
carbon emissions, with substantial benefits
to health and the environment
A switch from traditional
biomass cookstoves to more efficient fan-assisted
ones, or stoves fueled by Liquefied Petroleum
Gas or biogas, offers the biggest reduction
potential in Africa, Asia Pacific and, to
some extent, in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Action on cookstoves
is also pinpointed as a low cost or cost-saving
measure, which would represent close to
25 per cent of the total climate benefit,
achievable through the full implementation
of all 16 measures on short-lived climate
forcers.
A switch to more efficient
cookstoves would save householders and communities
the time and money, usually spent over the
collection and purchase of firewood and
other sources of fuel.
The cost of replacing
traditional cookstoves with more environmentally-friendly
ones may seem low by international standards.
However, from the perspective of local users
in developing countries, this cost may represent
a financial burden. The report looks at
ways to overcome such barriers and to link
the implementation of such measures to national
development plans.
Replacing conventional
residential wood burning stoves in North
America and Europe with pellet stoves and
boilers would also offer important black
carbon cuts—estimated at close to 2 per
cent of the overall climate benefits.
Replacing traditional
brick kilns with more efficient ones could
trigger cost savings equal to around $7
a tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Vertical-shaft brick
kilns use about half the energy and, hence
half the fuel costs, per brick made compared
to the traditional kilns.
Methane Cuts to Reduce
Tropospheric Ozone
In respect to methane,
seven measures are identified.
The biggest cuts would
come from reducing emissions from coal mines
and processes related to the production
and transport of oil and gas, as well from
as the capture of methane from landfill
sites.
Globally, nearly 50
per cent of the methane reduction potential
can be achieved through measures that will
give rise to cost savings over the lifetime
of the investment. Cost estimates were calculated
according to two different perspectives:
A social planning perspective,
where investment in black carbon and methane
capture measures constitutes a long-term
benefit for society and where cost savings
are discounted over the lifetime of the
investment.
A private business perspective,
which expects a more rapid return on investment
and where the implementation of black carbon
and methane reduction measures may prove
challenging, without adequate access to
financing.
In North America, Europe
and elsewhere separation and treatment of
the biodegradable portion of municipal waste
has important benefits—globally, this amounts
to close to 10 per cent of the climate benefits
linked with fast action.
Further benefits can
arise in parts of Asia from exposing continuously
flooded rice paddies intermittently to the
air under improved management systems, as
is now practiced in parts of China—globally,
the climate benefits as a proportion of
action on short-lived climate forcers is
just over three per cent.
The report outlines
national actions that can assist in fast-tracking
efforts to reduce short-lived climate forcers,
ranging from tax incentives, regulation,
public education and subsidizes or loans
on, for example, improved cookstoves.
Regional actions can
include controlling pollutants, such as
black carbon, under regional air quality
agreements. For example, the UN Economic
Commission for Europe's Convention on Long-Range
Transboundary Air Pollution and its Gothenburg
Protocol are currently being reviewed for
the possible inclusion of black carbon,
as a component of particulate matter.
Globally, there are
opportunities for complementary actions
that support international treaties, such
as the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change, in respect to methane and tropospheric
ozone.
Convening international
organizations around common near-term climate
protection objectives could be a powerful
way of integrating existing initiatives,
reducing duplication and inefficient use
of resources, while leading to more effective
SLCFs mitigation in different sectors, worldwide.