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Cutting HFCs, Black Carbon, Methane Can Slow Glacial Melt, Other Impacts in Near-Term

Washington DC, September 26, 2013 – On Friday the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to release the first of four volumes of its fifth comprehensive assessment of scientific knowledge on climate change, known as AR5. The report is expected to state with 95% confidence that most of the observed global warming since 1950 is caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases. It is also expected to provide updated estimates of temperature projections for this century and updates to projections of major climate impacts such as sea level rise and glacier melt.

In an interview given earlier this week in the Financial Times, IPCC chairman Rachendra Pachauri announced that “Himalayan glaciers are melting so fast they could affect the water supplies of nearly a billion people in South and South East Asia within 22 years… which affect, as we had estimated, 500m people in south Asia and 250m people in China.”

The first volume was written by IPCC Working Group I and will cover the physical science of climate change, and will be followed over the next 14 months by the remaining three.

“There’s now no denying that climate change is real and it’s impacts are occurring faster and are worse than we could have predicted even six years ago,” stated Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development.

“We can’t solve a fast-moving climate problem with a slow-moving assessment and a slower-moving legal process,” Zaelke added. “We need fast action to address climate change, starting with cuts in the short-lived climate pollutants to complement cuts in long-lived CO2.”

Recent studies have projected that cutting short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs)—hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone—can quickly cut the rate of global warming in half in 2050, cut the rate of warming in the vulnerable Arctic by two thirds, and the rate of warming in the elevated regions of the Himalayas and Tibet by at least half. Cutting SLCPs could avoid as much as 0.6°C of warming by 2050 and 1.5°C by the end of the century, while saving millions of lives and tons of agricultural production lost every year to air pollution.

“Cutting HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is the best opportunity that we have today to slow near-term warming and climate impacts,” stated Zaelke. “Cutting HFCs and the other SLCPs will help build the sense of urgent optimism the world needs to increase its ambition to reduce CO2 while starting to protect the vulnerable people and places of the world today.”

The IPCC WGI AR5 Summary for Policymakers will be available here on 27 September 2013.

US and China agree to launch formal negotiations on HFC phase down under Montreal Protocol

Climate optimism resurrected today

St Petersburg, 6 Sept 2013 – Today President Obama negotiated two separate agreements, one with the G-20 and one with China, to phase down the super greenhouse gasses called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). The G-20 Leaders Declaration announced support for initiatives that are complementary to efforts under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, including using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs, while retaining HFCs within the scope of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol for accounting and reporting of emissions.

The G-20 agreement included Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union, as well as Ethiopia, Spain, Senegal, Brunei, Kazakhstan, and Singapore.

Previously, Argentina, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia had been unwilling to support the HFC amendment under the Montreal Protocol.

“The G-20 agreement leaves little if any opposition to the HFC amendment,” stated Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “This is the biggest climate prize available to the world in the next few years, providing mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050 and avoiding up to nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.5 Celsius) in warming by 2100. It also will help build the momentum we need to negotiate a strong climate treaty in 2015 to go into effect in 2020,” added Zaelke. “Climate optimism was resurrected today by President Obama, President Xi, and the other G-20 leaders.”

HFCs are the fastest growing greenhouse gases in the US, China, India, and many other countries.

The announcement comes on the heels of an agreement reached earlier today between the U.S. and China to open formal negotiations on the details of the amendment to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol. The agreement took place on the margins of the G-20 Summit and builds on an earlier agreement between President Xi Jinping and President Obama. (See IGSD press release 13 June 2013)

“The high-level agreement between the US and China earlier in the day and now this agreement by the G-20 leadership shows how effective climate policy can be when it’s done at the leader level,” Zaelke added. “This is part of a sophisticated effort by the Obama Administration to move climate policy to the leader level, where it belongs.

“President Obama and Secretary Kerry are moving the US back into position as a positive force in the climate battle, something we haven’t seen since the Copenhagen climate summit back in 2009,” he added. “The President’s leader-focused strategy is paying off big time.”

The G-20 also the acknowledged the importance of International Complementary Initiatives and multilateral approaches to support the “the full implementation of the agreed outcomes under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its ongoing negotiations.”

“We are seeing a fundamental shift in climate policy today,” stated Zaelke. Since 2005 IGSD has championed “fast-action” climate mitigation strategies using existing laws and institutions, starting with the Montreal Protocol, to solve pieces of the climate problem. IGSD’s focus has been primarily on strategies to cut HFCs and other short-lived climate pollutants, including black carbon, methane, and tropospheric ozone, to complement cuts in CO2, which is responsible for more than half of all warming. Strategies to cut the short-lived climate pollutants can cut the rate of global warming in half and the rate of warming in the fragile Arctic by two-thirds.

The G-20 Leaders’ Declaration is here

The White House G-20 Press Release is here

The US-China Agreement Press Release is here

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The G20 LEADERS’ DECLARATION issued today commits the G20 leaders to working together to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol:

Pursuing the Fight against Climate Change

  1. We are committed to support the full implementation of the agreed outcomes under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its ongoing negotiations. We strongly welcome the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to mobilize political will through 2014 towards the successful adoption of a protocol, another legal instrument, or an agreed outcome with legal force under the convention applicable to all Parties by 2015, during COP-21 that France stands ready to host. We also support complementary initiatives, through multilateral approaches that include using the expertise and the institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), based on the examination of economically viable and technically feasible alternatives. We will continue to include HFCs within the scope of UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol for accounting and reporting of emissions.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 6, 2013

United States and China Reach Agreement on Phase Down of HFCs

Building on their June 8 accord on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in Sunnylands, President Obama and President Xi agreed at their bilateral meeting as a next step to establish a contact group under the Montreal Protocol on HFCs to consider issues related to cost-effectiveness, financial and technology support, safety, environmental benefits, and an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

The agreement between President Obama and President Xi on HFCs reads as follows:

We reaffirm our announcement on June 8, 2013 that the United States and China agreed to work together and with other countries through multilateral approaches that include using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs, while continuing to include HFCs within the scope of UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol provisions for accounting and reporting of emissions.  We emphasize the importance of the Montreal Protocol, including as a next step through the establishment of an open-ended contact group to consider all relevant issues, including financial and technology support to Article 5 developing countries, cost effectiveness, safety of substitutes, environmental benefits, and an amendment. We reiterate our firm commitment to work together and with other countries to agree on a multilateral solution.

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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 6, 2013

United States, China, and Leaders of G-20 Countries Announce Historic Progress Toward a Global Phase Down of HFCs

Today, President Obama reached separate agreements with the G-20 and with China to combat global climate change by addressing the rapid growth in the use and release of climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).

Two statements on HFCs were released today, one in the context of the G20 Leaders’ Declaration and one bilaterally with China.

First, G-20 leaders expressed their support for initiatives that are complementary to efforts under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs, while retaining HFCs within the scope of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol for accounting and reporting of emissions.

This was agreed by the following countries:  Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey,the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, as well as Ethiopia, Spain, Senegal, Brunei, Kazakhstan, and Singapore.

The G-20 agreement on HFCs reads as follows:

We also support complementary initiatives, through multilateral approaches that include using the expertise and the institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), based on the examination of economically viable and technically feasible alternatives.  We will continue to include HFCs within the scope of UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol for accounting and reporting of emissions.

Second, building on their June 8 accord on HFCs in Sunnylands, President Obama and President Xi agreed at their bilateral meeting as a next step on HFCs to establish a contact group under the Montreal Protocol to consider issues related to cost-effectiveness, financial and technology support, safety, environmental benefits, and an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

The agreement between President Obama and President Xi on HFCs reads as follows:

We reaffirm our announcement on June 8, 2013 that the United States and China agreed to work together and with other countries through multilateral approaches that include using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs, while continuing to include HFCs within the scope of UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol provisions for accounting and reporting of emissions. We emphasize the importance of the Montreal Protocol, including as a next step through the establishment of an open-ended contact group to consider all relevant issues, including financial and technology support to Article 5 developing countries, cost effectiveness, safety of substitutes, environmental benefits and an amendment. We reiterate our firm commitment to work together and with other countries to agree on a multilateral solution.

Background:

HFCs are potent greenhouse gases used in refrigerators, air conditioners, and industrial applications. While they do not deplete the ozone layer, many are highly potent greenhouse gases whose use is growing rapidly as replacements for ozone-depleting substances being phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Left unabated, HFC emissions could grow to nearly 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, a serious climate mitigation concern.

The Montreal Protocol was established in 1987 to protect the ozone layer. Every country in the world is a party to the Protocol, and it has successfully phased out or is in the process of phasing out several key classes of chemicals, including chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and halons. The transitions out of CFCs and HCFCs provide major ozone layer protection benefits, but the unintended consequence is the rapid current and projected future growth of climate-damaging HFCs.

For the past four years, the United States, Canada, and Mexico have proposed an amendment to the Montreal Protocol to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs. The amendment would reduce consumption and production and control byproduct emissions of HFCs in all countries, and includes a financial assistance component for countries that can already access the Protocol’s Multilateral Fund.  The proposal leaves unchanged the reporting and accounting provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol on HFC emissions.

Reducing HFCs are an important domestic component of the President’s Climate Action Plan, as well.  For example, the Administration has already acted domestically by including a flexible and powerful incentive in fuel efficiency and carbon pollution standards for cars and trucks to encourage automakers to reduce HFC leakage and transition away from the most potent HFCs in vehicle air conditioning systems. Moving forward, the Environmental Protection Agency will use its authority through the Significant New Alternatives Policy Program to encourage private sector investment in low-emissions technology by identifying and approving climate-friendly chemicals while prohibiting certain uses of the most harmful chemical alternatives. In addition, the President has directed his Administration to purchase cleaner alternatives to HFCs whenever feasible and transition over time to equipment that uses safer and more sustainable alternatives.

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Focus on heads of government critical for fast, near-term mitigation in Arctic, elsewhere

Leader focus also critical for success with UN climate treaty in 2015 treaty

Washington, DC, 5 September 2013 —During his visit to Sweden yesterday, President Obama gained allies in his effort to stop coal plants when the leaders of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden agreed to join the U.S. “in ending public financing for new coal-fired power plants overseas, except in rare circumstances.” The leaders also agreed “to secure the support of other countries and multilateral development banks to adopt similar policies,” and “to continue their work, in all appropriate channels, to reduce the use of domestic fossil fuel subsidies globally.”

The leaders also agreed to “intensify our efforts” to reduce short-lived climate pollutants—HFCs, methane, tropospheric ozone, and black carbon. They noted “the rapid growth of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition” as well as the Coalition’s “potential…to catalyze significant global reductions of short-lived climate pollutants, which have major impacts on climate change and public health.” (See IGSD press release on the Coalition.)

“Reducing the short-lived climate pollutants can cut the rate of global warming by half and Arctic warming by two-thirds,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “Fast cuts to this climate pollutants is critical for protecting the Arctic and other vulnerable places and peoples.”

The U.S. and Nordic leaders also “recommit to protecting the Arctic environment, … [and to] pursue opportunities in future Arctic Council meetings and other international fora to … reduce emissions of black carbon in the Arctic region, as agreed upon in the Kiruna Declaration.”

“President Obama pursuit of climate protection at the leader level started with his June agreement with President Xi Jinping of China to phase down HFC under the Montreal Protocol,” said Zaelke. “Agreement by heads of government is critical for fast near-term mitigation under existing laws and institutions, starting with the Montreal Protocol and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. It also is critical for building the confidence of the leaders to negotiate an effective UN climate agreement in 2015 to go into effect by 2020.”

The Nordic leaders also “agreed on the importance of reaching an ambitious, comprehensive, fair, and inclusive climate agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2015 that is consistent with science, mindful of the two degree target, and applicable to all.”

President Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt issued a separate statement, noting that, “As founding members of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, [we]…are pleased that the Coalition…is already working to catalyze significant global reductions of short-lived climate pollutants. We agreed to redouble our efforts and invite others to join to take full advantage of the Coalition’s potential, including through innovative approaches to financing methane abatement.”

The White House Statement is here.

The Joint Statement by the US and Sweden is here.

World’s most effective environmental treaty asked to do more for climate

Goal is phasing down HFCs, benefits equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide

Oslo, Norway, 3 September 2013 – Efforts to phase down the super greenhouse gas called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, received a boost today when the Climate & Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants agreed to “to work toward a phasedown in the production and consumption of HFCs under the Montreal Protocol.”

The Montreal Protocol phasedown was endorsed by the Coalition’s Country Partners, now numbering 33 plus the European Union, including Nigeria, Bangladesh, Columbia, Ghana, Mexico, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, the United States, and Norway, the host of the High-Level Assembly of the Coalition which issued its Communiqué at the conclusion of today’s meeting.

The Coalition’s Country Partners also agreed to “adopt domestic approaches to encourage climate-friendly HFC alternative technologies” and to “work with international standards organizations to revise their standards to include climate-friendly HFC alternatives.”

“Agreeing to phase down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is the single biggest, fastest, and most effective action we can take against climate change in the next several years,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development in Washington, DC and Geneva. The Institute was one of the first non-governmental partners in the Coalition and sits on the Steering Committee. Zaelke participated in today’s meeting in Oslo.

“Phasing down HFCs can avoid the equivalent of up to 100 billion tonnes of CO2 by 2050, and up to 0.5° Celsius of warming by 2100,” Zaelke added. “The cost is expected to be less than 10 cents per tonne, the best bargain going for climate protection.”

Two formal proposals to amend the Montreal Protocol to phase down HFCs are being considered under the treaty, one submitted the a coalition of three vulnerable countries, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Maldives, and the Royal Kingdom of Morocco. Mexico, Canada, and the US submitted the other proposal.

To date, at least 112 countries have indicated support for reducing HFCs, including China, when President Xi Jinping reached an agreement earlier this summer with President Obama to phasedown HFCs using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol.

The Coalition, with a total of 72 Partners, including the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Environment Agency, also announced that the World Bank would set up a “pay-for-performance” fund to reduce methane, another of the short-lived climate pollutants, along with black carbon and tropospheric ozone. In addition, the Coalition commissioned a review of strategies to support financial flows towards project that can reduce black carbon emissions.

At the meeting today Norway announced a pledge of $20 million to support the Coalition, and the US announced that it was increasing its contribution for this year to $5.5 million.

“The rapid growth, enthusiasm and potential for this Coalition to catalyse fast action across a range of sustainability challenges, including climate change, is one of the really positive developments of the past year. We are proud to have played a key role in this effort,” said UN Under-Secretary General and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner.

Hans Troedsson, Executive Director of the Director General’s Office for the World Health Organization, presented a compelling case for taking fast action to reduce black carbon and tropospheric ozone, air pollutants that contribute to over six million death every year, noting that these pollutants “cause a particular burden on women and children in developing countries.” He added, “Now that we are partners in the Coalition we welcome the opportunity to help expand the Coalition’s public health efforts.”

The World Bank also issued a report on how they planned to mainstream reductions of short-lived climate pollutants in their portfolio. The report was commissioned by the G8 last year.

The Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, an international finance institution established in 1990 by the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), announced that it was reviewing projects to finance that would reduce short-lived climate pollutants.

Zaelke added, “The Coalition started 18 months ago with a great spirit, the spirit of urgent optimism to reduce climate pollutants. Since then we have added speed to complement our spirit, and have moved ahead quickly with new partners, new initiatives, and new funding. Now our challenge is to increase the scale of our efforts so we can cut the rate of global warming in half over the next several decades, while also saving millions of the lives lost every year to the short-lived climate pollutants, and preventing significant damage to crops. In the meantime, of course, we also must work to cut carbon dioxide aggressively.”

Washington, DC 9 August 2013 – President Obama announced yesterday that Dr. Mario Molina has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, along with former President Bill Clinton, and 14 others.  The Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor in the US, given to acknowledge those who have made especially meritorious contributions to the country’s security or national interests, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant endeavors.

The White House announcement stated, “Mario Molina is a visionary chemist and environmental scientist …  [who] earned the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how chlorofluorocarbons deplete the ozone layer.  Dr. Molina is a professor at the University of California, San Diego; Director of the Mario Molina Center for Energy and Environment; and a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.” Dr. Molina, who is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, told the U-T San Diego that he “was stunned” and “very humbled” to learn that he was receiving the medal.

“Dr. Molina’s career has been a combination of brilliant science and wise and heroic policy action,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.  Molina and Zaelke are currently collaborating on efforts to show the importance of reducing hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, using the Montreal Protocol, the treaty that previously phased out CFCs.  (Several papers they have co-authored are listed below.)

President Obama and President Xi Jinping reached an agreement at their summit earlier this summer to phase down HFCs using the expertise and institutions of the Montreal Protocol. “The HFC phase-down will provide climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tones of CO2 by 2050, and avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century,” Zaelke added.  More than 110 countries are supporting this approach. The Medal of Freedom will be presented at the White House later this year.

World’s poorest would bear 80% of costs

Washington DC, July 25, 2013 – Warming caused by methane released by thawing Arctic permafrost could cost the world more than $60 trillion in damages, according to a new study published yesterday in Nature, nearly equal to the 2012 global GDP of $70 trillion. The study estimates that the release of methane trapped in East Siberian Arctic Shelf over a decade could push global temperatures over the 2°C guardrail, beyond which impact could be come unmanageable, 15 years earlier that the current 2050 date, or as soon as 2035.

The Arctic is warming at twice the global rate, and Arctic summer sea-ice is melting at an accelerating rate, reaching a new record summer minimum in 2012, with the possibility of an ice-free Arctic as early as 2015. Arctic warming feeds upon itself when reflective sea-ice is replaced with darker water causing increased warming.

The increased warming could cause the release of methane trapped in the undersea permafrost, leading to even greater warming. According to the Arctic Council’s Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, the southern limit of Arctic permafrost has already moved northward by as much as 80 km in Russia and 130 km in Quebec since the 1970s. Arctic permafrost is estimated to contain more than twice as much carbon as the entire atmospheric carbon pool.

If the methane release occurred more slowly, over twenty or thirty years, total costs would be nearly the same ($64.5 and $66.2 trillion respectively). The costs would be cut in half if only half as much methane is released. The study included costs from sea-level rise, health and agricultural impacts, and extreme weather, using an updated version the Integrated Assessment Model used in the 2006 Stern Report.

Nearly 80% of the cost would be borne by the poorer regions Africa, Asia, and South America, in the form of extreme weather, poor health, and lost agricultural productivity.

“The best way to slow the warming in the Arctic is to cut black carbon soot and other short-lived climate pollutants,” stated Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “Cutting black carbon and other short-lived climate pollutants can cut the rate of warming in the Arctic by two thirds. It also will save millions of lives every year that are now lost to black carbon pollution.”

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is the only global organization dedicated to reducing black carbon and the other short-lived pollutants. It was launched last February by then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and now has more than 60 members, including 32 countries, plus the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and UNEP.

The Nature study is here

The underlying study on ESAS methane release is here IGSD’s Primer on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is here

Montreal Protocol HFC amendment presents biggest near-term mitigation opportunity

Avoids 0.5°C of warming by end of century

Washington, DC 25 July 2013 – During his visit to India this week Vice President Joe Biden continued the Administration’s full court press on the HFC amendment under the Montreal Protocol, originally proposed by the US, Canada, and Mexico, and separately by the Federated States of Micronesia, Morocco, and the Maldives. President Obama made phasing down HFCs under the Montreal Protocol a central part of his Climate Action Plan announced 25 June, and reached an agreement with China President Xi to phase down HFCs using the Montreal Protocol at their Rancho Mirage summit 8 June.

Following a meeting with Prime Minister Singh, Vice President Biden gave a speech at the Bombay Stock Exchange 24 July about the need for both the US and India to address the problem of climate change. Biden stated, “One thing we can do together right now is address pollutants called hydrofluorocarbons, HFCs.”  He added, “Well, HFCs found in air conditioners and other products make an outsized contribution to climate change. I hope that India will join the United States, China and more than 100 other countries to work within the Montreal Protocols to phase down the production and consumption of HFCs.”

“When India agrees to the HFC amendment, as China’s President Xi did in his summit last month with President Obama, the world will be assured of climate mitigation equivalent to 100 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2050—five to ten times more that the Kyoto Protocol has done to date,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute of Governance & Sustainable Development.  “This will avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by the end of the century, and significantly slow down climate impacts.”

In addition to providing the biggest, fastest, cheapest, and most secure climate mitigation available in the near-term, phasing down HFC under the Montreal Protocol will also provide political momentum for a successful COP 21 in Paris in 2015 when the UNFCC is scheduled to conclude a climate treaty to go into effect by 2020.  “To get this political momentum, it is essential that we wrap up the HFC amendment this year or early next year at an extraordinary meeting,” Zaelke said.”

Vice President Biden also addressed the importance of phasing down HFCs in his remarks last week on Asia-Pacific policy at George Washington University:  He noted “We just concluded an agreement with China to reduce the use of pollutants called HFCs that cause climate change.  And there’s no reason we cannot do more with India as well.  That’s why Secretary Kerry agreed to an enhanced dialogue with India on climate change just last month. “

Prime Minister Singh is visiting the White House as part of a 6-day visit on 20 September.  He will be in NY for the UN General Assembly first.  The Montreal Protocol Meeting of Parties will is schedule for 21-25 October in Bangkok.

VP Biden’s remarks in India are here.

VP Biden’s remarks at George Washington University are here.

Wildfires Responsible for More Warming Than Previously Thought

Washington DC, July 17, 2013 – A new study by Indian glaciologists suggests black carbon from forest fires may affect the “reflectance” or albedo of glaciers in a manner that reduces their mass balance. The report indicates that the change in reflectance in 2009 was higher than in any other year from 2000 to 2012 and could only be explained by the extensive forest fires that year, the number of which was significantly higher than any other year between 2001 and 2010.  The scientists noted that many small low-altitude Himalayan glaciers are currently melting by as much as 1 meter per year, more than double previous estimates.

In addition to the Indian study, a new study conducted by researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has found that climate models have underestimated the contribution of wildfires to global warming. Existing climate models assume that wildfires emit a mixture of warming black carbon particles along with organic carbon, thought to cause cooling by reflecting sunlight. The combination and ratio of the two types of particles was thought to cause net cooling or a neutral climate effect.

The researchers, who began looking at wildfires after the 2011 Las Conchas fire threatened their own laboratory, found that wildfires also emit tiny, black balls of tar, at a rate ten times higher than these other particles. Further the black and organic carbon emitted by the fires are covered in an organic coating which acts like a lens to focus sunlight, increasing the warming by a factor of 2 or more.

A series of studies led by Dr. V. Ramanathan of Scripps Institute of Oceanography have also found that that co-called brown carbon has a more a potent warming impact than many models account for, offsetting up to 60 to 90% of the cooling caused by other lighter organic carbons. Based on recent field studies Dr. Ramanathan and co-researchers estimate that the warming contribution of brown carbon causes organic carbon’s net impact to be close to zero, meaning that it does not offset the warming caused by co-emitted black carbon, which has been estimated to be the second most powerful climate forcer, behind only CO2.

“The combination of these findings has important implications for climate models and climate mitigation,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “Wildfires and agricultural burning in Africa, Asia, and South America, once thought to have little or no effect on the climate may contribute significantly to global warming.”

“Wildfires are only expected to increase as the climate warms,” added Zaelke. “So urgent action to reduce the rate of warming immediately can contribute to limiting such positive feedbacks, where the consequences of increased warming, such as forest fires, themselves increase warming.

The Divecha Centre study is here.

The Nature Communications study is here.

IGSD’s Primer on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is here.

With Presidential Backing, Working Group Gets Fast Start

Five new joint climate initiatives, plus efforts to implement HFC agreement

Washington DC, July 11, 2013 – The U.S.-China Working Group on Climate Change, set up in April during Secretary of State John Kerry’s first visit to China, yesterday announced agreement on five new initiatives to jointly reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution. Implementation plans are on a fast track, with completion scheduled for October 2013. The U.S. and China are currently the two largest emitters of greenhouse gas pollutants globally.

The new US-China initiatives are: reducing black carbon and other emissions from heavy-duty trucks and other vehicles; demonstrating carbon capture, utilization, and storage; increasing energy efficiency in buildings, where air conditioning accounts for a major part of energy use, as well as in industry and transport; strengthening capacity for collection and management of greenhouse gas data; and, collaborating on “smart” grid systems, deploying renewable and clean energy, and improving demand management.

The high-level US-China team is also working to implement the June agreement by President Obama and President Xi to phase down HFCs using the Montreal Protocol treaty, considered to be the world’s most successful environmental treaty for its success protecting the stratospheric ozone layer and the climate system.

“The US-China initiatives will produce fast mitigation from cuts to HFCs and black carbon, two climate pollutants that clear out of the atmosphere quickly and produce quick cooling.  The initiatives also will produce longer term mitigation by cutting carbon dioxide, and by pursuing carbon capture, utilization, and storage projects,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.

“The focus on carbon capture and utilization opens up opportunities for California companies like Blue Planet cement, which is capturing carbon dioxide from the smokestack and turning it into cement, the world’s most widely used commodity. Utilizing carbon dioxide to make cement for our highways and buildings is smart technology and smart business. We can’t protect the climate in the long run if we don’t learn how to capture and utilize carbon dioxide.”

Secretary Kerry, who attended the June Presidential summit with presidents Obama and Xi, is following through with a solid set of initiatives that will produce fast results for China, for the US, and for the world, results that Zaelke says “will lead to expanded cooperation by the world’s two largest climate polluters.”

“President Obama and Secretary Kerry are moving the US back into position as a positive force in the climate battle, something we haven’t seen since the Copenhagen climate summit back in 2009,” Zaelke added. “The successful climate partnership between the US and China is starting to generate the sense of urgent optimism we need to re-energize global climate policy.”

A study published June 26th confirms the importance presidents Obama and Xi are placing on HFCs, showing that that phasing down these super greenhouse gases under the Montreal Protocol can avoid up to 0.5°C of warming by 2100, a substantial part of what is needed to keep global temperature below 2°C through the end of the century.

The meeting involved high-level officials from the US and China. For the US this included secretaries of State, Energy, Treasury, Transportation, and Commerce, as well as officials from the White House, consistent with President Obama’s new attention to climate policy.

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U.S.-China Climate Change Working Group Fact Sheet is here.

IGSD’s Primer on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is here.

Also causing climate change and damaging crops

Prime target for sustainable development, climate protection

Washington DC, July 10, 2013 – A new study finds that air pollution during the 90’s caused the combined loss of more than 2.5 billion years of life for the 500 million residents of Northern China. The study, published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Sciences, found that residents in Southern China lived an average of five years longer than those in Northern China due to the health impacts of air pollution linked to the widespread use of coal for cooking and heating.

Another study released last week by the World Health Organization’s regional office for Europe warned that more than 80% of Europeans live in areas with particulate matter air pollution higher than WHO air quality guidelines. The study estimates that exposure to air pollution reduces the average life expectancy of Europeans by almost 9 months.

According to the WHO 2010 Global Burden of Disease study indoor air pollution is the fourth leading global risk factor for death, putting air pollution behind poor diet and high blood pressure and about the same as tobacco smoke as a preventable risk for early mortality globally. Outdoor air pollution contributed to 1.2 million premature deaths in China in 2010, nearly 40% of the global total. The study calculated that indoor and outdoor air pollution together are responsible for more than six million deaths annually, including 3.5 million from household air pollution from burning solid fuels such as coal, and 3.1 million from ambient particulate matter pollution.

“Reducing air pollution, including black carbon soot pollution, can save millions of lives a year, reduce crop losses significantly, and cut the rate of global warming in half and the rate of warming in the Arctic by two-thirds over the next few decades,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development. “With this combination of benefits—healthier citizens, higher crop yields, and half the rate of climate change—reducing air pollutants should be a top priority for sustainable development and climate protection.”

Black carbon soot, which is one of a group of four climate pollutants known collectively as short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), due to their relatively short atmospheric lifetimes, is the second leading cause of global warming behind CO2. The other three SLCPs are methane, tropospheric ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. Fast action to reduce SLCPs has the potential to cut the rate of climate change in half, slowing global temperature rise by up to ~0.6°C by 2050 and 1.3°C by 2100, while preventing 2.4 million air pollution-related deaths per year, and avoiding around 30 million tonnes of crop losses annually.

Due to the heightened effects of black carbon and tropospheric ozone near their emissions sources, these benefits, including much of the climate mitigation benefits, are enjoyed largely by the regions making the cuts. For example, eliminating emissions of black carbon from traditional solid biomass stoves with improved cook stoves would have a major impact in reducing black carbon direct climate effects over South Asia (by about 60%).

The US-China Climate Change Task Force announced today a new initiative to reduce air pollution from trucks and other vehicles, including black carbon, along with other initiatives to address other short-lived climate pollutants as well as carbon dioxide, a long-lived climate pollutant responsible for half of climate change.

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The China study is here; WHO study is here.

The Global Burden of Disease study is here; IGSD’s Primer on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is here.

The US-China Climate Change Task Force Fact Sheet is here.