Fast action climate change mitigation measures can prevent 0.5C of global warming and help avoid the 2C danger limit
12 January 2012 — A new study in Science to be published 13 January identifies 14 fast action measures to reduce air pollutants that can deliver major benefits for climate, public health, and agriculture. The measures reduce emissions of black carbon and ground-level ozone, preventing 0.5°C of warming by 2050, half of the warming otherwise expected. The reductions in ozone are achieved by cutting its precursor methane. The 14 measures also save up to 4.7 million lives per year, while increasing crop yields up to 135 billion metric tons. Read more from IGSD's press release.
IGSD President's NPR interview: to slow climate change, cut down soot, ozone
12 January 2012 — Politically, climate change is off this year's campaign agenda. Jobs, the economy and social issues are front and center. But scientists are working as hard as ever to figure out how much the Earth is warming and what to do about it. Some now say it's time for a new strategy, one that gets faster results.
Talk to Durwood Zaelke, for example. Zaelke is a grizzled veteran of the climate wars: He was in Kyoto in 1997 when the world's nations drafted a treaty promising to curb warming, and he has watched that promise fizzle while the planet's temperature continues to rise. Read and listen here.
EPA approves alternatives for super-greenhouse HFC refrigerants
16 December 2011 — The U.S. EPA took a major step this week towards reducing the fastest growing greenhouses gas in the United States by approving three low global warming potential (GWP) hydrocarbon alternatives to hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants. HFCs are known as super-greenhouse gases because many of these man-made refrigerants have a global warming potential hundreds to thousands of times greater than CO2. Read more from IGSD's press release.
UNEP tells Durban negotiators fast action on black carbon and other air pollutants can cut rate of global warming in half
9 December 2011 — The rate of global warming can be cut almost in half over the next 30 to 60 years with a package of 16 fast-action mitigation measures that reduce two local air pollutants, black carbon soot and ground-level ozone, according to Joseph Alcamo, UNEP’s chief scientist, who set out a fast-action mitigation plan during the climate negotiations. Fast action will deliver benefits for health and crops, as well as climate, and largely in regions making the cuts, added Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director. The Swedish environment minister noted that UNEP’s fast-action agenda
"is possibly the only way of slowing down climate change in the medium term. Ministers from Mexico, Ghana, and Canada also participated. Read more from IGSD's press release.
Fast cuts to non-CO2 climate pollutants can cut rate of warming in half
25 November 2011 — A new UNEP policy report details how fast action to reduce non-CO2 short-lived climate forcers represents a “win-win” for climate mitigation, public health, and food security, with benefits that justify action regardless of climate change policy. The report provides policy pathways to implement SLCF control measures, building upon existing institutions, policies, and regulatory frameworks. Such cuts can cut the rate of global warming in half, and in the Arctic by two-thirds over the next 30-60 years. “UNEP has shown us the tools to fight back against near-term climate change, and protect the world’s most vulnerable people and places from the worst impacts of climate change,” said IGSD President Durwood Zaelke. Read more from IGSD’s press release.
Island effort to slow sea level rise blocked at Bali Montreal Protocol meeting
25 November 2011 — At the 23rd annual meeting of the Montreal Protocol ozone treaty in Bali, Indonesia 21-25 November, a strong and vocal majority of 108 Parties supported a plea by island nations to phase down HFCs, super greenhouse gases. The proposal would ensure climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050, many times more than the Kyoto Protocol. But a small group of Parties led by India and China asserted that HFC can only be addressed under the climate treaty and blocked the start of formal negotiations, delaying action for at least another year. Read more from IGSD’s press release.
Weather disasters increasing from climate change, says UN report
18 November 2011 — A definitive UN science report released today confirms the link between climate change and extreme weather events, including punishing heat waves, droughts, and torrential rains and resulting floods. “These climate change impacts have become so clear and so close now that we need fast, aggressive mitigation if we hope to avoid the worst consequences,” said IGSD President Durwood Zaelke. Read more from IGSD's press release.
Innovative initiative to safely destroy OSD and POPs in Central America adopted at Basel Convention meeting
21 October 2011 — A unique partnership to safely destroy ozone-depleting substances and persistent organic pollutants was launched at the 10th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Basel Convention in Cartagena, Columbia. ODS include fluorocarbons – “f-gases” – that destroy stratospheric ozone, increase exposure to UV radiation, and warm the climate. POPs include DDT, dioxins, and PCBs. “This initiative reduces the costs of implementation, provides public and environmental health benefits, and cuts climate emissions,” said IGSD President Zaelke. Read more from the press bulletin.
European Parliament urges fast cuts in black carbon and ground-level ozone to reduce threats from dangerous glacial dams in Himalayas
10 October 2011 — Fast cuts in black carbon are needed to reduce threats from hundreds of dangerous glacial dams in the Himalayan Hindu Kush and the devastating flash floods caused when these dams burst, according to the European Parliament. The Parliament’s Resolution of 27 September 2011 recommends fast-action to cut black carbon, as well as ground-level ozone and its precursor methane, to slow glacial melt and reduce the threat of glacial lake outburst floods. Read more from IGSD's press release.
IGSD President speaks at the XXXII OAS Roundtable on the role of short-lived climate forcers in combating natural disasters
6 October 2011 — At the OAS Roundtable on “Hemispheric Cooperation to Combat Natural Disasters”, IGSD President Zaelke said: climate change is already making disasters worse; it will make our ability to respond to disasters more difficult as more demands are made on government resources; and fast solutions can be implemented now using existing laws and technologies to cut the rate of warming in half. Video of Zaelke’s presentation is here.
UN Secretary General urges countries to leapfrog HFCs to protect climate: Notes pending proposal to phase out HFCs under Montreal Protocol
16 September 2011 — Countries and companies should leapfrog HFCs to protect the climate, according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a statement issued today on International Ozone Day. HFCs are super greenhouse gases 2,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming the climate. Read more from IGSD's press release.
European Parliament Calls for Fast Action to Cut Non- CO2 Climate Forcers: Part of Comprehensive Climate Strategy
14 September 2011 — The European Parliament is calling for fast action to reduce non-CO2 climate forcers including black carbon soot, HFCs, methane, and ground-level ozone, which together are responsible for nearly half of climate forcing. The Parliament's call for action came in a Resolution passed today by an overwhelming majority (578 to 51 with 22 abstentions). A summary of IGSD President Durwood Zaelke's testimony to the European Parliament on this topic is here. Read more from IGSD's press release.
