The Coalition works
on a triple-benefit agenda: better health,
increased crop yields and food security,
and near-term climate protection.
Paris, 18 February 2014 - The Climate and
Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived
Climate Pollutants (CCAC) this week celebrated
two years of rapid growth, during which
dozens of governments and organizations
have worked together to target swift reductions
in atmospheric pollutants that threaten
human health and the environment.
The CCAC was originally
launched as a partnership between six countries
and the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP), who all recognized that fast action
to reduce short-lived climate pollutants-particularly
methane and black carbon (soot)-has the
potential to slow down the global warming
expected by 2050 by as much as 0.5°C.
"The Coalition
works on a triple-benefit agenda: better
health, increased crop yields and food security,
and near-term climate protection,"
said Helena Molin Valdes, Head of the CCAC
Secretariat. "Black carbon, methane,
tropospheric ozone and hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs) are having an impact in all these
fields, and we can have quick gains if we
act now. And the solutions are all available-this
is what the partners in the Coalition are
focusing on."
"This year we will
focus to a great degree on the health aspects
of air quality and short-lived climate pollutants,
together with our partner the World Health
Organization, and, increasingly, with the
agriculture sector," she added. "We
have some very able partners to count on.
As one of our founding ministers put it,
'We are a Coalition of the Working.' Anyone
who is willing to act in that spirit is
welcome to join us."
The coalition has gained
momentum swiftly: 36 countries and 44 institutions
and organizations are now lending their
weight to tackling the issue, and a $50
million Trust Fund has been created to support
and conduct emissions reduction work.
Concrete actions range
from working with more than 30 cities to
assess the growing problem of methane and
black carbon emissions from municipal landfills
to promoting more stringent vehicle emissions
standards, with initial successes in Asia
and Latin America.
"The Climate and
Clean Air Coalition is a remarkable process
of bringing science to policy, focusing
on the multiple benefits of action, and
creating initiatives that invite voluntary
partnerships," said UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director Achim
Steiner. "I hope that as policymakers
and actors across the world look at the
success story of the Climate and Clean Air
Coalition, they will find the courage and
optimism that we are indeed able to take
science, turn it into policy recommendations,
and form coalitions that are willing and
able to act."
Other accomplishments
of the CCAC over the last two years include:
Ten transformative initiatives,
including work to reduce short-lived climate
pollutants in municipal solid waste, oil
and gas, diesel engines, brick production,
HFCs, cookstoves and agriculture, with additional
progress in finance, regional SLCP assessments
and national planning;
Giving grants to entrepreneurs to develop
cleaner cook stoves, for which capital investments
are lower than for other black carbon-reduction
measures;
Showcasing alternative technologies to replace
high-global-warming-potential HFCs;
Gathering oil and gas companies under the
umbrella of the CCAC Oil and Gas Methane
Partnership, to be launched officially in
2014;
Making tools available to national governments
to assess the benefits of emission reductions
and national planning;
Conducting the first region-wide review
of short-lived climate pollutants in Latin
America;
Beginning a public health campaign with
the World Health Organization to make clear
the connection between pollution and health.
More than six million people die each year
from indoor and outdoor air pollution, and
many more are affected by non-communicable
diseases from pollution;
Helping to shape the policies and investment
portfolios of the World Bank and other development
banks.
CCAC partners welcomed the work of the coalition,
and called on others to join and increase
the momentum of a movement that offers much
promise in protecting human health and mitigating
climate change.
"In the past two
years the CCAC has grown into an action-oriented
coalition, and I am pleased that so many
countries and organizations have joined
efforts with the coalition", said Wilma
Mansveld, Minister of Infrastructure and
Environment for the Netherlands, one of
CCAC's partner countries.
"In addressing
short-lived climate pollutants, the CCAC
has a lot to offer to the climate, health
and food productivity," she added.
"In our view, governments, industry,
NGOs and citizens must all be part of the
solution. I am enthusiastic about the cooperation
of countries and institutions in concrete
initiatives, complementary to our efforts
under the climate regime. I look forward
to continue to work with partners in progressively
scaling up our activities."
About the CCAC
The Climate and Clean
Air Coalition to Reduce Short Lived Climate
Pollutants is a partnership of governments,
intergovernmental organizations, the private
sector, the environmental community, and
other members of civil society. The Coalition
is government-led but is highly cooperative
and voluntary. Short-lived climate pollutants
are agents that have a relatively short
lifetime in the atmosphere-a few days to
a few decades-but also a warming influence
on climate as well as, in many cases, detrimental
impacts on human health, agriculture and
ecosystems.
The newest partners
to the Coalition include Morocco and the
Russian Federation as state partners, and
the Center for Sustainable Development Studies
(Colombia), the GLOBE Foundation (Canada)
and TERRE: Technology, Education, Research
and Rehabilitation for the Environment (India)
as non-state partners.
