IGSD Primers & Background Notes
A Primer on Cutting Methane: The Best Strategy for Slowing Warming in the Decade to 2030

Feb. 2023
Summary
Background Note: The Need for Fast Near-Term Climate Mitigation to Slow Feedbacks and Tipping Points

June 2023
Summary
Background Note: Methane Removal

Aug. 2022
Summary
Background Note: Debt-for-Climate Swaps

Oct. 2020
Summary
Primer on Polar Warming and Implications for Global Climate Change

May 2019
Summary
Primer on Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Jan. 2018
Summary
Primer on Energy Efficiency

Nov. 2017
Summary
The IGSD Primer on Energy Efficiency details the benefits of improving the energy efficiency of cooling technologies as complementary and integral to effectively fulfilling the commitments and objectives of the 2016 Kigali Amendment of the Montreal Protocol. This Primer defines efficiency metrics; describes policies, tools, and programs that effectively move markets towards more efficient equipment; and provides examples that can be replicated globally. Furthermore, this Primer recommends strategies to ensure efficiency is at the core of the refrigerant transition. The audience for this Primer includes: government officials implementing the Kigali Amendment, as well as those responsible for national energy efficiency plans and actions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) seeking to maximize environmental and consumer benefits, and companies developing and deploying new cooling solutions.
U.S. Climate Action Plan Supplement

Jan. 2014
Summary
President Obama recognized the importance of addressing SLCPs in his Climate Action Plan, announced on June 25, 2013. In addition to the measures outlined in the President’s plan, the U.S. has a number of other opportunities domestically to achieve rapid, low-cost reductions in SLCPs using a combination of Executive Orders and other existing authorities, as well as procurement policy, voluntary industry agreements, public-private partnerships, and other strategies described here.
Primer on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs)

Nov. 2013
Summary
Slowing the rate of global warming over the near term by cutting short-lived climate pollutants to complement carbon dioxide reductions for the long term.