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On 2 November 2021, The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued an important document entitled Opinions on Strengthening the Battle for Pollution Prevention and Control (“Opinions”).

Why this is important: The Opinions are another in a growing list of policy documents that China’s national policy authorities have issued. Documents such as this guide what experts on China’s negotiating team have noted as a “change to our entire system” necessary to steer China’s massive economy toward peaking of carbon emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. (See another example of such documents here.) These documents also establish needed precedent for ambition-setting agreements, such as the US-China Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s (10 November 2021). The Opinions provide additional insights on key China initiatives such as the phaseout of coal, including the target to “achieve negative growth of coal consumption in the Fenwei Plain region by 2025.” (The Shanxi-Shaanxi-Henan region is known as the Fenwei Plain,” where coal-mine emissions are a major pollutant.) Also, the Opinions call for strengthening greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring and control of non-CO2 GHGs such as methane, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrogen oxides (NOx), as well as responses to address climate change’s impact on the cryosphere. This reflects China policymakers’ increasing awareness that substantial reductions in non-CO2 climate pollutants, along with CO2 reductions and protection of the cryosphere, are essential to keep global warming in check.

The Opinions add to plans and policy guidance the Chinese government released this year promoting coordinated action on pollution control and emissions reduction, including the Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035 (2021). The Opinions specify policy actions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as air, water and soil pollution control, along with key targets that such actions should reach by 2025. The Opinions describe mechanisms to support achievement of these targets, including government incentives, funding allocation, and GHGs monitoring.

On the subject of non-CO2 GHG emissions reduction, the Opinions provide that China will strengthen the control of non-CO2 GHGs, including methane, improve the environmental management of ozone-depleting substances and HFCs, and promote synergistic emissions reduction of VOCs and NOx for ozone pollution control.

Key policy highlights and targets relevant to non-CO2 GHG mitigation in the Opinions also include those described below.

On green and low-carbon development, China will:

  • Prioritize actions to achieve carbon peaking in key sectors and industries, including the energy, urban and rural construction, transportation, iron and steel, non-ferrous metals, building materials, and petrochemicals sectors/industries;
  • Improve inventories on GHG emissions sources and GHG emissions monitoring and verification systems, and incorporate GHG emissions into the project environmental impact assessment system; and
  • Strictly control the growth of coal consumption during the period 2021-2025, increase the non-fossil energy consumption to about 20% (same as provided in the 14th Five-Year Plan), reduce the coal consumption in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and surrounding areas by about 10%, reduce the coal consumption in the Yangtze River Delta region by about 5%, and achieve negative growth of coal consumption in the Fenwei Plain region by 2025.

On the control of air pollution, China will:

  • Promote comprehensive management of VOCs in key industries, including the petrochemical, chemical, painting, pharmaceutical, packaging, and printing industries, and into the storage, transportation and sale of oil products;
  • Reduce, by 2025, the total emissions of VOCs and NOx by more than 10% respectively from 2020 levels (as also provided in the 14th Five-Year Plan);
  • Expand on clean transportation and the control of diesel-engine emissions; and
  • Strengthen the comprehensive reutilization of crop straw and the ban on open burning.

On the control of water pollution, China will:

  • Continue to advance the treatment of urban water bodies; endeavor to eliminate, for Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, black and smelly water bodies by 2024 (other cities at the county level shall achieve the same goal by 2025); and
  • Advance the treatment of black and smelly water bodies in rural areas; increase, by 2025, domestic sewage treatment to 40% in rural areas.

On the control of soil pollution, China will:

  • Reduce application amounts and increase efficiency of chemical fertilizers and pesticides; increase, by 2025, the efficiency of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to 43%;
  • Promote reutilization of livestock and poultry manure; increase comprehensive reutilization of livestock and poultry manure to more than 80% nationwide by 2025; and
  • Convert about 100 prefecture-level-and-above cities to “waste-free cities” during the period 2021-2025.

It is also noteworthy that the Opinions recognize that China will also effectively respond to the impact of climate change involving the melting of the cryosphere for the benefits of ecological and environmental safety.

Additional IGSD China resources:

Highlights Include Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases

27 October 2021 – China released a white paper entitled Responding to Climate Change: China’s Policies and Actions with examples of the country’s actions and achievements to date in addressing climate change, in preparation for the 26th annual negotiations of the United Nations climate change conference (COP26).

Highlights from the White Paper include non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs), with particular focus on HFCs and methane:

  • China provided subsidies for HFC-23 destruction during 2014-2019 in the total amount of 1.4 billion yuan (about 219 million USD) for the destruction of 65,300 tonnes of HFC-23 (equivalent to 966 million tonnes of carbon dioxide);
  • China is promoting the development of environmentally-friendly refrigerants and the reuse and safe treatment of [recycled] refrigerants, in accordance with the Regulation on Administration of Ozone Depleting Substances and the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer;
  • China is supporting enterprise deployment of air-conditioner production lines using low global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants;
  • China is accelerating the phaseout of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and controlling the use of HFCs;
  • China accepted the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer on 17 June 2021; and
  • Chinese oil and gas enterprises established an alliance to control methane emissions.

In a State Council press conference convened on the same day (27 October 2021), the Ministry of Ecology and Environment listed the following action items as the next steps:

  • China will actively implement the climate-change targets provided in its 14th Five-Year Plan;*
  • China will promulgate and implement policies to achieve its carbon-peaking and carbon-neutrality goals;
  • China will promulgate an Implementation Plan for Synergy and Efficiency in Pollution Control and Carbon Reduction;
  • China will promulgate an Interim Regulation on the Management of Carbon Emission Trading and gradually expand the coverage of its carbon market to more high-emission industries;
  • China will establish mechanisms for greenhouse gas data accounting and management, as well as long-term mechanisms for [climate-related] treaty compliance;
  • China will enhance public awareness of and promote green and low-carbon lifestyles;
  • China will promulgate a strategy for national climate-change adaption by 2035; and
  • China will actively participate in international negotiations on climate change and continue to carry out South-South climate-change cooperation.

* For further details on the provisions and targets on non-CO2 GHGs and natural carbon sinks in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, see IGSD briefing: China’s 14th Five-Year Plan: Overview of Provisions Related to Climate Change; Non-CO2 GHGs, Including SLCPs and Natural Carbon Sinks.

Additional IGSD China resources:

28 October 2021- Today China submitted its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the Mid-Century, Long-Term Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Development Strategy (Mid-Century Strategy) to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The key targets provided in the updated NDCs and the Mid-Century Strategy are consistent with the provisions in two policy documents that China released in October 2021: the Working Guidance for Carbon Dioxide Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in Full and Faithful Implementation of the New Development Philosophy; and the Action Plan for Achieving Carbon Peaking Before 2030.

These targets are not new but are now officially incorporated into China’s NDCs and related strategies.  In the updated NDCs, China reaffirms its goal to increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 25% by 2030. In the Mid-Century Strategy, China reaffirms that it will further increase the percentage of non-fossil fuels to over 80% by 2060.

Additionally, it is noteworthy that China’s updated NDCs incorporate actions to address non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs). These actions include the following:

  • China will improve its systems for monitoring, reporting, and evaluation of non-CO2 GHG emissions;
  • China will develop non-CO2 emissions control technologies and promote related pilot and demonstration projects;
  • China will continue to promote HFC-23 destruction and control emissions of HFCs;
  • China will research and formulate emissions reduction plans for nitrous oxide in key industries;
  • China will advance low-global warming potential (GWP) power facilities for sulfur hexafluoride emissions control; and
  • China will effectively reduce methane emissions from the energy sector, through controls on coal-production capacity, increases in extraction and utilization of coal-mine gas, reductions in emissions of volatile organic compounds in the petrochemical industry, and deployment of technologies for the recovery of associated gas.

The Mid-Century Strategy also lists policy actions for achieving substantial reductions in non-CO2 GHG emissions from industrial processes, as well as from the energy, agriculture, and waste sectors. Such actions include the following:

  • Strengthen the coordinated control of GHG emissions and emissions of air pollutants;
  • Gradually incorporate quantitative targets and management for non-CO2 emissions reduction; and
  • Actively implement the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, including to:
    • Strictly require harmless treatment and disposal of HFC-23 from HCFC-22 production;
    • Promote low-GWP alternatives during the phaseout of HCFCs;
    • Avoid leakage of controlled substances during production processes;
    • Promote the recovery, reuse, and harmless treatment of controlled substances; and
    • Prioritize HFC phasedown in industries with feasible alternative technologies.

Additional IGSD China resources:

 Groundbreaking report by coalition of leading national health, city policy, energy, planning, equity, and architecture organizations demonstrates that Smart Surfaces are very cost-effective in cutting soaring city temperatures, slowing climate change, and enhancing health and urban equity in hot dry climates 

Washington, DC, October 26, 2021— Cities across California and the U.S. are suffering from record heatwaves, flooding, and soaring urban heat deaths. The Smart Surfaces Coalition released a landmark report today detailing how cities across California can deploy Smart Surfaces to cost-effectively cut summer heat, slow global warming, enhance public health and equity and expand jobs. Smart Surfaces – including reflective, porous, and green surfaces, solar photovoltaics (PV), and trees – if deployed intelligently can manage sun and rain to make cities much more livable, cooler, healthier, and more equitable – all with a benefit-cost ratio of more than 5:1. 

“We know that this summer’s devastating heatwaves were driven by climate change. As we contend with the worsening climate crisis, there are proven, cost-effective solutions that allow cities to cool themselves even as the world warms,” said Greg Kats, CEO of the Smart Surfaces Coalition. “City-wide Smart Surfaces allow cities to become cooler, cut emissions, advance equity, strengthen local economies, and become healthier and more livable.” 

Like many cities, Stockton is a mid-sized, diverse city in a hot- and dry climate facing growing equity, heat, and flooding challenges. Benefits to Stockton of adopting Smart Surfaces at a modest level city-wide would include: 

  1. 2.9°F summer peak temperature reduction in downtown Stockton
  2. $770 million 30-year net present value from the adoption of Smart Surfaces
  3. Benefit-cost ratio of 7:1—with net savings from the first year
  4. 4.6 million tonnes of CO2e emissions reduced over 30 years 

The largest benefits would accrue in lower-income communities and communities of color, which tend to have less trees and darker, more impervious surfaces. 

“Climate change is the greatest public health crisis of our lifetime and is an especially grave and immediate threat to urban communities, particularly lower-income communities, which are at a higher risk of heat-related injury,” said Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Smart Surfaces are an important strategy to mitigate the health risk from extreme heat in a cost-effective way—it must be adequately funded, rapidly implemented, and brought to scale.” 

“This Stockton case study demonstrates a very effective pathway for urban cooling, equity, and resilience… Californians should choose to prioritize health, equity, and prosperity and adopt this strategy ASAP”, said Sustainable Silicon Valley‘s Dennis Murphy. 

The analysis, funded by the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, enabled the creation of a Stockton-specific Smart Surfaces analytic engine to model multiple adoption scenarios, and test, compare and optimize a Smart Surfaces adoption strategy. 

The full report, Achieving urban cooling, enhanced health and equity, and lower climate impact and risk in hot dry climates through Smart Surfaces: An Indicative Case study of Stockton, California, is here.

 Contact: Jackson Becce, jbecce@smartsurfacescoalition.org

In October 2021, China issued and publicly released two policy documents detailing its plans for achieving its carbon-peaking and carbon-neutrality goals: (1) the Working Guidance for Carbon Dioxide Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in Full and Faithful Implementation of the New Development Philosophy; and (2) the Action Plan for Achieving Carbon Peaking Before 2030.

General information and details relevant to the mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), including methane, are provided below for each of these documents. Note that SLCPs are covered under the broader category of “non-CO2greenhouse gases” (GHGs) in the context of policy discussions in China.

1. The Working Guidance for Carbon Dioxide Peaking and Carbon Neutrality in Full and Faithful Implementation of the New Development Philosophy (hereinafter referred to as “the Guidance”).*

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council issued the Guidance on 22 September 2021. However, the Guidance was publicly released in October 2021.

The Guidance constitutes an overarching policy document that describes the working principles, key targets, and policy instructions for China’s low-carbon and green transition in key industries, energy types, the transportation sector, and urban development. The Guidance also supports the protection of carbon sinks and the promotion of related technology research and development.

Further, the Guidance incorporates plans to improve government supervisory and support mechanisms related to China’s low-carbon and green transition. These plans include promulgating and amending relevant laws, regulations, and standards, advancing monitoring systems, promoting green finance, enhancing relevant tax and procurement policies, and expanding the carbon-trading system. The Guidance provides that, under the oversight and coordination of the national government, qualified localities, key industries, and key enterprises may take the lead to achieve carbon-peaking and carbon-neutrality goals.

On the subject of non-CO2 GHGs, the Guidance provides that “[China will] strengthen the control of non-CO2 GHGs such as methane.” This is consistent with prior statements by President Xi Jinping and Minister Xie Zhenhua, as well as provisions in China’s 14th Five-Year Plan.

For the energy sector, the Guidance sets the key target of increasing non-fossil energy consumption to more than 80% by 2060. Per the Guidance, actions to strictly control increases in coal-consumption from 2021-2025, and gradually reduce coal consumption over 2026-2030, will support this energy transition target. Additionally, the Guidance provides that China will scale up the development and utilization of coal-bed methane and reach the peak and plateau stage for oil/petroleum consumption during 2026-2030.

Furthermore, the Guidance touches on China’s export policies, indicating that China will strictly manage the export of high energy-consuming and high-emission products. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) remains the focus for China’s diplomatic policies including promoting the green development of the BRI and strengthening collaboration with BRI countries on, among other things, green technology, green equipment, green services, and green-infrastructure construction.

The Guidance also indicates, as next steps, that China will issue carbon-peaking action plans for key sectors, including the energy, petrochemical, transportation, and construction sectors. Additionally, the Guidance notes that China will also issue policies to control production capacities of key industries in the coal-power, petrochemical, and coal-chemical sectors.

2. The Action Plan for Achieving Carbon Peaking Before 2030 (hereinafter referred to as “the Plan”).

The State Council issued the Plan on 24 October 2021. Although the Plan focuses on CO2 emissions reduction, certain of the targets provided in the Plan have significant implications for China’s mitigation of non-CO2 GHGs.

Key targets in the Plan relevant to non-CO2 GHGs include:

Energy and petrochemical sectors:

  • The percentage of non-fossil energy consumption shall be increased to around 20% by 2025 and around 25% by 2030.
  • China’s domestic primary processing capacity for crude oil shall be controlled to within one billion tons, and the capacity utilization rate of major products shall be increased to more than 80% by 2025.

Transportation sector:

  • New transportation powered by new energy and clean energy shall reach about 40% [of total new transportation] per year in 2030.
  • Petroleum consumption by transportation on land shall aim for peaking by 2030.
  • Green transportation deployment in cities with populations of one million or more shall be no less than 70% by 2030.

Construction sector:

  • All new urban buildings shall meet China’s green building standards by 2025.
  • Urban building application of renewable energy shall reach 8% [of total building energy consumption] by 2025.
  • Photovoltaic panel coverage on the roofs of new public-institution buildings and new factory plants shall strive to reach 50% by 2025.

Waste sector:

  • Reutilization of bulk solid waste shall reach about 4 billion tons per year by 2025 and about 4.5 billion tons per year by 2030. Such bulk solid waste includes waste from coal mines, refineries, industrial processes, and construction, as well as crop straw.
  • [Rates for] reutilization of urban household waste shall be increased to around 60% by 2025 and 65% by 2030.

Agriculture sector:

  • No quantitative targets are provided. The Plan nonetheless mentions the need to control the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, implement plans to reduce and replace chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and strengthen the comprehensive use of crop straw and the reutilization of livestock manure.

* For awareness, note that China has posted an English translation of the Guidance, although the translation appears to be a rough draft. See https://en.ndrc.gov.cn/policies/202110/t20211024_1300725.html.

16 October 2021– China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) announced at a press briefing that it will issue additional hydrofluorocarbons (HFC)-related policies and measures to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. According to MEE, next steps include:

  • Amending China’s National Plan for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol to identify the roadmap for HFC phasedown, including prioritized areas and policy measures (Article 5 of the Regulation on the Administration of ODS and HFCs (Draft Amendment for Comments) provides that MEE takes the lead to draft National Plan for the Phaseout of ODS and the Phasedown of HFCs for submission to the State Council for approval);
  • Implementing permit management system on the import and export of HFCs by 15 December 2021, in coordination with the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs;
  • Promulgating HFC production-project control policies to provide clearer guidelines for industry; and
  • Researching and introducing a quota- and record-management system for the production, sale, and consumption of HFCs.

A week prior to the briefing, on 8 October 2021, MEE, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly released the amended List of Controlled Ozone-Depleting Substances in China, which now includes HFCs. The List’s key regulatory functions include:

  • Identifying the controlled substances to be phased out in China in accordance with the Montreal Protocol;
  • Reflecting key uses and the phasedown timeline for these substances, which now include HFCs;
  • Clarifying that the definition of controlled substances includes blends containing listed substances and also includes substances in containers for transportation or storage; and
  • Exempting substances contained in ODS or HFC-consuming products from control requirements.

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol entered into effect in China on 15 September 2021. On the same day, China implemented a circular aimed at controlling the emissions of HFC-23 by-products.  Since that time, China has continued to release additional measures and announce plans for Kigali Amendment implementation.

The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, agreed by the Parties in October 2016, represents the single biggest piece of climate mitigation to date. A fast HFC phasedown can avoid up to 0.5°C of future warming by 2100. To date, 127 countries have ratified the Kigali Amendment. Beyond phasing down HFCs, improving the energy efficiency of cooling equipment has the potential to at least double the climate benefits of the Kigali Amendment in the near term.

Additional IGSD China resources:

24 new countries joining Global Methane Pledge, for a total of 33

Washington, DC, October 11, 2021 — The U.S. and EU announced today that an additional 24 countries have committed to join their Global Methane Pledge unveiled jointly in September at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. The pledge is now backed by 9 of the top 20 methane-emitting countries. The entire group accounts for 60% of the global economy.

Fast cuts to methane emissions is the only strategy that can reduce near-term warming fast enough to keep the 1.5°C temperature of the Paris Agreement insight, a key goal of the Biden Administration.

“If the world is serious about keeping the climate safe, it’s got to get serious about cutting methane,” said Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development, “and the Methane Pledge is a good start.”

“It’s encouraging to see how quickly momentum for methane mitigation is building ahead of COP 26, including with both big emitters and the most vulnerable countries,” Zaelke added.

The Global Methane Pledge has a goal of reducing emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030. Achieving this target would avoid over 0.2°C of warming by the 2040s and keep the planet on a pathway consistent with staying within 1.5°C, according to the Global Methane Assessment, released in May of this year by UNEP and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

When the Pledge was first announced at the Major Economies Forum hosted by President Biden in September, supporters included the EU, Argentina, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, UK, U.S., Ghana, and Iraq. In the three weeks since, an additional 24 countries have been added, bringing the total to 34. The new countries are listed in the Department of State’s Joint U.S.-EU Statement on the Global Methane Pledge released today. Russia also spoke favorably about the Global Methane Pledge this morning and indicated it would join after further studies.

A dozen philanthropic organizations announced this morning that they have mobilized over $223 million to help support countries’ methane reduction efforts, as explained by Richard Lawrence, director and co-founder of the High Tide Foundation, who noted that today’s $223 million pledge follows the $53 million put together to support the Kigali Amendment to phasedown super polluting HFCs agreed in 2016.

Aggressively cutting methane emissions is the only way to keep the 1.5°C goal within reach and slow warming over the next two decades, according to the Global Methane Assessment. More recently, the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report further confirmed the need for immediate and drastic reduction of methane emissions, calling for “strong, rapid and sustained reductions in CH4 [methane] emissions.”

Getting to net-zero CO2 emissions is essential to stabilizing the climate over the longer term, but alone doesn’t bend the warming curve until 2050. This is because CO2 stays in the atmosphere for decades to centuries, and when we stop burning fossil fuels, like coal and diesel, we reduce not only CO2 but also co-emitted cooling aerosols. These cooling aerosols fall out of the atmosphere in days to months, and this offsets reductions in warming from decarbonization until around 2050.

“This is the decade that will decide the fate of billions,” said Dr. Gabrielle Dreyfus, Senior Scientist at IGSD. “In the remaining 99 months to 2030, we need to cut methane to bend the warming curve, to limit self-amplifying feedbacks and extremes, while simultaneously transforming our economies to cut CO2 emissions to net-zero.”

“There’s one move left to keep the planet from catastrophe—cutting methane as fast as we can from all sources,” added Zaelke.

The Global Methane Pledge will be formally launched at COP26, the high-profile United Nations climate summit in Glasgow scheduled for the first two weeks of November. Over the coming weeks, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans encouraged those countries already joining to recruit other countries to join the pledge, with a goal of at least 100 countries by COP 26 in Glasgow.

For further details see Joint U.S.-EU Statement on the Global Methane Pledge, Department of State (11 October 2021).

See earlier Joint US-EU Press Release on the Global Methane Pledge, White House (18 September 2021).

Climate change is happening all around us, and one of the tell-tale signs is melting glaciers.

Daily the news is filled with stories of pieces of ice the size of continents breaking off of Antarctica or the North Pole now floating in the oceans. But does it really matter? Will melting glaciers so far away change our lives?

Absolutely! says Jorge Daniel Taillant, author of Meltdown: The Earth Without Glaciers. In his latest book, he takes us deep into the cryosphere, the Earth’s frozen environment, and picks apart why glacier melt will alter the way we live around the world.

From rising seas that will destroy property and flood millions of acres of coastal lands displacing hundreds of millions of people, to rising global temperatures due to changes in the reflectivity of the Earth because of decreased glacier surface area, to colossal water supply changes from glacier runoff reduction, glacier melt is altering our global ecosystems in ways that will drastically change our everyday lives.

“Taillant masterfully takes us on a journey through the profound changes our cryosphere is suffering from climate change and how melting glaciers that are vanishing around the world will not only destroy delicate ecosystems, from oceans to coastlines and from urban environments to forests but how they will radically change how we live on Earth in ways not yet imagined. His unique capacity to bring together media, science, politics, and society in understandable prose offers a powerful wake-up call to our deepening climate crisis.”

– Durwood Zaelke, IGSD President 

Meltdown also takes delves into the little-known realm of the periglacial environment, a world of invisible glaciers creeping through the sub-terrain of our coldest mountain ranges. These massive enigmatic bodies of invisible ice that even glaciologists know little about, will survive beyond the life of visible glaciers and the initial impacts of climate change, but will they be enough to save humanity from its vanishing glacier ice?

Meltdown is an awakening to a new and altered world where one of our most obscure and but also most fascinating natural resources are going through colossal changes right before our eyes. We are literally witnessing the change of a geological era and melting glaciers are the first sign.

Available for purchase here.

Background note

Learning how to remove methane from the atmosphere would complement strategies to mitigate methane emissions from anthropogenic sources. Methane removal technologies would be especially important because around 40% of atmospheric methane originates from natural sources, and because some anthropogenic emissions are difficult to reduce. Natural methane emissions come primarily from wetlands, but also, increasingly, from thawing permafrost, and there is a risk of high-impact emissions from undersea methane hydrates. Although these emissions come from natural sources they are enhanced by global warming, and as warming accelerates these emissions will likely continue to grow.

Both mitigation and removal technologies would provide crucial levers in the struggle to slow warming rapidly enough to limit irreversible and potentially catastrophic climate change. Indeed, reducing methane concentrations is the most effective way to rapidly limit warming. A new modeling study by a Stanford University-led team calculates that removing around three years’ worth of human-caused methane emissions would reduce warming by 0.21 ºC, two orders of magnitude greater than the temperature reductions from removing the same amount of CO2 (1 petagram). These results compare with the 2021 Global Methane Assessment, which concluded that reducing anthropogenic methane emissions by 45% could avoid nearly 0.3 ºC of warming by 2045.

In April 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced a $35 million program to reduce methane emissions in the oil, gas, and coal sectors. In developing this program, ARPA-E recognized the need for further research on methane capture in parallel with efforts to capture CO2. While removing methane could provide more avoided warming than removing the same amount of CO2, the fact that methane is 600 times more diluted than CO2 in the general atmosphere presents its own challenge. Since 2003, studies have highlighted two potential pathways for research into anthropogenic methane removal: catalytic oxidation and methanotrophic bacterial filtration. Preventing natural methane formation is an additional pathway.

To learn more, see IGSD Background Note on Methane Removal; R&D needed for removing methane from the atmosphere, September 2021.

Download our guide to learn how to purchase the best products and avoid obsolete hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants that are being phased down under the American Innovation & Manufacturing Act in the U.S. and the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol internationally.

Developed by the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), in partnership with IGSD, the Guide to Climate Friendly Refrigerant Management and Procurement, 2021 edition, is a toolkit designed to help select affordable, energy-efficient refrigeration and cooling equipment that uses next-generation refrigerants that are more climate-friendly.

This document focuses primarily on space conditioning and refrigeration equipment where climate-friendly alternatives are readily available, cost-effective, and compliant with U.S. environmental and safety standards.​​ While this toolkit focuses on procurement, it also covers the importance of refrigerant management and developing an organizational HFC policy to avoid negative climate change impacts of HFCs.

In its second version, this guide was developed by the SPLC Climate Friendly Refrigerant Action Team who is dedicated to investigating global regulatory and voluntary programs to avoid and/or reduce emissions from high global warming potential (GWP) HFCs. The second edition of the guide covers new developments that have occurred since the passage of the American Innovation & Manufacturing Act in 2020, which phases down the climate impact of production & consumption of HFCs in the USA by 85% by 2036.

We invite you to use this guide in your own procurement processes and to offer additional insights and experiences to sharpen and improve the guidance over time.

Download the Guide to Climate Friendly Refrigerant Management and Procurement here.

For inquiries contact co-author Kristin Taddonio at ktaddonio@igsd.org.

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