Elevating action on super pollutants for rapid climate gains
The climate crisis is intensifying, bringing death, destruction, and economic damage across the world. Yet, existing commitments under the Paris Agreement will see global temperatures that exceed 1.5°C. Unless people act with urgency, far worse is to come.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlights that superpollutants like methane, black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons, and tropospheric ozone contribute to half of global warming, and addressing them can lead to rapid climate change. Deliver action across the full triple planetary crisis – the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste. And, of course, it brings benefits for human health and economies.
There are already many commitments on super pollutants, from the Global Methane Pledge to the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. A new report on nitrous oxide to be released at the upcoming meeting of the parties of the Montreal Protocol sheds light on another super pollutant that requires urgent attention.
The question is how to take these commitments to the next level?
Encouraging governments to prioritize super pollutants in the upcoming Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) will set climate action courses for 2030 and 2035. Over this time frame, action on super pollutants can reduce the risk of exceeding 1.5°C.
Governments are also encouraged to adopt the 2024 CCAC Ministerial Communique, which calls for every nation to include specific economy-wide targets on super pollutants in their NDCs, for clarity and to send a signal to the finance community. Investing in cutting super pollutants emissions can save millions of lives, reduce the healthcare burden, protect nature, and increase food security.
Over the last year, the UNEP-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) has deepened its role connecting these agendas, building enormous momentum through its growing network of 90 country partners. Since 2022, US$65 million has been deployed from the CCAC Trust Fund, supporting over 60 countries across 140 projects.
Now, seven months after a UNEA-6 resolution calling for increased cooperation on air quality, the CCAC has launched the Air Quality Management Exchange Platform, with contributions from the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, non-governmental organizations, and your country teams.
The platform demonstrates collective effort and wisdom in providing air quality management guidance but requires further contributions to the Trust Fund to support countries in response to satellite imagery data.
Governments must use the influence to promote super pollutant action, including its inclusion in NDCs, highlighting its benefits, and intensifying our efforts to reduce super pollutants and meet the Paris Agreement goals.
