News

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today announced that IGSD’s Dr. Stephen O. Andersen has been selected for the 2019 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards for leadership in environmental policy. He is best known as one of the leading figures in crafting and managing the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer but also found success in wilderness river protection, marine mammal conservation and energy efficiency.

African ministers of the environment at the 17th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment called for fast action on short lived climate pollutants, methane, tropospheric ozone, black carbon and HFCs for climate action, also urging for rapid ratification of the Montreal Protocol’s Kigali Amendment.

Phasing down HFCs has the potential to avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century. Simultaneous improvements in energy efficiency in refrigeration and AC equipment during the transition to low-GWP alternative refrigerants can potentially double the climate benefits of the HFC phasedown of the Kigali Amendment.

Taking fast, ambitious action to reduce SLCPs- methane, tropospheric ozone, black carbon, and HFCs— can cut the rate of global warming in half and Arctic warming by up to two-thirds and deliver multiple benefits for sustainable development and human well-being.

To reduce the worst of climate impacts, it is fundamental to understand Earth’s Polar Regions. IGSD’s Primer on Polar Warming examines the current state of the climate in the Poles, projections of change for the future, and highlights fast mitigation strategies to reduce warming, especially through cuts to SLCPs.

At their bilateral meeting during President Xi’s visit to France in March 2019, both leaders agreed to work together to promote ratification and implementation of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol and to promote the improvement of energy efficiency standards in the cooling sector.