The framework, introduced in 2009 by co-author Professor Johan Rockström and colleagues, defines Planetary Boundaries as the safe operating thresholds for nine critical processes that maintain Earth system stability and resilience. The stratospheric ozone layer is one of the nine processes, and it is highlighted as the first and only example of a planetary system imperiled by humans yet pulled back towards health in the coming decades by collective action of scientists, consumer boycotts, public policy, and technical innovation. This paper explains how policymakers, facing an existential risk from fluorocarbon emissions, listened to science and acted at a global level with adoption of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (Montreal Protocol) that, along with complementary actions by citizen and corporate leaders, avoided health and environmental hazards of stratospheric ozone depletion. The paper also explains how the Montreal Protocol has delayed climate tipping points through:
1) the phaseout of ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) that are also powerful greenhouse gases (GHGs),
2) the ongoing phasedown of non-ozone-depleting hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) GHGs, and;
3) the associated protection of aquatic and terrestrial carbon sinks from ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
The Montreal Protocol is proof that humans can organize to protect the global commons against exceeding planetary boundaries. The paper shows how it is possible to restore the health of other planetary boundaries beyond stratospheric ozone and climate by using the Montreal Protocol’s successful model of trusted scientific and technical wisdom, deep human connections, and a commitment to fairness.
Includes a Case Study of MAC Secondary-Loop Architecture Vital to Economic and Environmental Performance of All-Electric Vehicles.
This publication offers the back and front story, the timeline, and the comprehensive bibliography of leadership in the full spectrum of environmentally improved motor vehicle air conditioning, including ozone-safe and climate-friendly refrigerants, leak-tight systems, repair before recharge with recovery and recycle, energy efficiency, and end-of-life recovery and recycle or destruction. It also elaborates on the partnerships that developed secondary-loop motor vehicle air conditioning (SL-MAC), which is a powerful driver of improved performance of all-electric vehicles that are necessary to avoid climate tipping points. The co-authors are insiders to this technical breakthrough.
SL-MAC technology developed through collaboration between government and industry is almost patent-free and is easily adaptable to the special circumstances of passenger and commercial vehicles, small or large, on-road or off-road, and internal combustion, hybrid, or all-electric.
Presenting a novel emission estimation study of Short-lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs) for the state of Punjab for the baseline year 2019; this report highlights all the projected changes in these compounds by 2047 under a Business-As-Usual scenario. It highlights the critical need to sharpen focus on SLCFs—which include Short-lived Climate Pollutants, i.e., methane (CH4), black carbon (BC), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and tropospheric ozone (O3), in addition to nitrates and sulphates to mitigate short-term climate impacts, while maintaining the long-term momentum on CO2.
The report analyses the projected trends in SLCFs and evaluates a set of policy-driven alternative scenarios across sectors, identifying pathways to achieve maximum emission reductions.
The IGSD Resource Guide on Preventing the Dumping of Inefficient Cooling Equipment provides information and resources for government representatives and their advisors, researchers, academics, non-profit, philanthropic and other nongovernmental organizations, and other citizens to understand the practice of environmentally harmful dumping of new but energy-inefficient cooling equipment that uses high global-warming-potential refrigerants. The Resource Guide also provides insights for those working in other product areas, such as heavy-duty vehicles, involving environmentally harmful product dumping in vulnerable developing countries.
This IGSD Background Note summarizes the science supporting the need for fast climate mitigation to slow warming in the near term (2022–2041). It also describes the importance of cutting short-lived climate pollutants and protecting sinks in order to slow self-reinforcing feedbacks and avoid tipping points. It explains why winning a fast mitigation sprint to 2030 is critical for addressing the climate emergency and how the sprint complements the marathon to decarbonize the economy and achieve net-zero emissions.
The Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE) at University of Maryland, the Climate & Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), Centro Studi Galileo, and the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD) have released the Handbook of Best Practices: Room Air Conditioner Installation for the Lowest Carbon Footprint, which explains how to appropriately install high-efficiency room air conditioners (RACs) for the highest energy efficiency and lowest carbon footprint over the products’ lifetime. This comprehensive, open-source guide has been created for HVAC professionals and their business, government, and residential customers.
With climate change and energy efficiency at the forefront of global conversations, the importance of minimizing the carbon footprint of everyday appliances cannot be overstated. Air conditioning creates comfortable work and living spaces, and in climate hotspots is becoming necessary for human survival. RACs also place significant demands on national energy grids and contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. By focusing on optimal installation, the Handbook offers practical steps to mitigate these environmental impacts.
Topics covered include:
- Energy-Efficient Installation Techniques: Explains how the placement and setup of your AC unit can enhance energy efficiency, ensuring that RACs run at peak performance while using less power.
- Choosing the Right RAC Unit: Takes an in-depth look at selecting high-efficiency, eco-friendly air conditioners that are best suited for different climates and building types.
- Refrigerant Management: Reveals the latest developments on sustainable refrigerants that minimize harmful emissions and promote cooling with lower environmental impact.
- Smart Thermostat Integration: Provides Best Practices for integrating RACs with smart technologies to optimize cooling cycles for reduced energy usage.
- Maintenance and Longevity: Gives tips for maintaining RAC systems to ensure they remain efficient over time, helping to extend their life cycle and reduce the need for replacement units.
The authors welcome suggestions from RAC experts regarding edits and additions as the Handbook is improved and made available for translation to other languages.
India’s efforts to address climate change have often centered on carbon dioxide (CO2), but with growing evidence of the substantial impact of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), this focus is sharpening. SLCPs, including black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and nitrous oxide (N2O), are potent contributors to climate change, accelerating global warming with far-reaching implications for health, agriculture, and the environment. Despite their relatively short atmospheric lifetimes compared to CO2, SLCPs have intense warming effects, making their reduction a crucial step toward meeting India’s climate goals. This Primer by IGSD India program provides a comprehensive overview of SLCPs in India, outlining sources, impacts, and potential mitigation strategies.
Long-term success requires that NDCs be aggressive in terms of ambition and comprehensive in terms of gasses and sectors covered. We call upon nations to include all GHGs in the next NDCs and specify additional ambitious quantitative contributions from methane and other non-CO₂ gasses; this is a critically important opportunity to increase overall mitigation ambition, to deliver reduced near-term warming, and to obtain important societal co-benefits.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas and an ozone-depleting substance (ODS). Its global warming potential over 100 years is 273 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (CO2). To slow self-amplifying feedbacks and avoid irreversible climate tipping points, the world must quickly cut global human-caused N2O emissions as part of any fast climate mitigation strategy. Because N2O is the most significant ODS not yet regulated by the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, there is a strong case for adding it to the treaty, at least to control industrial emissions.
While mitigation technology and global attention to N2O are improving, more action is needed to accelerate N2O mitigation. This N2O Primer provides background for a global campaign to reduce N2O emissions. The Primer explains the anthropogenic sources of N2O, explains the benefits of reducing N2O emissions, describes the available cost-effective methods to cut N2O emissions, provides an overview of global governance regimes and initiatives that address N2O, and offers suggestions for strengthening global governance.
PxD and IGSD are partnering on an initiative to collaboratively identify opportunities for innovation in climate change mitigation, particularly for the greenhouse gases most problematic in agricultural production, methane, and nitrous oxide, as well as carbon dioxide. This initiative includes four analytical pieces on the opportunities for climate change mitigation by smallholder farmers.
Methane is second only to carbon dioxide in its contribution to global warming, and accounts for about half of the temperature increase of human-induced global warming (0.51 °C out of the present 1.06 °C). Strong, rapid, and sustained methane reductions are key to slowing warming in the next two decades, thereby reducing the risks of triggering self-amplifying feedbacks (such as thawing of the permafrost in the Arctic) and of crossing irreversible tipping points (including loss of tropical reefs, the Amazon rainforest, the Greenland Ice Sheet, and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet). Growing recognition of the urgency to reduce methane emissions has propelled over 150 countries to endorse the Global Methane Pledge, which sets a collective target to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Achieving this target would reduce warming by at least 0.2 °C by 2050 and keep the planet on a pathway consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The focus of this brief is on identifying methane mitigation approaches currently suitable for implementation in smallholder farmer and pastoralist contexts.
