Our results

Sector mitigation

We seek to support transformative change in the main short-lived climate pollutant sectors - agriculture, cooling, fossil fuels, household energy, transport and waste.

Highlights of our results in these sectors are below.

Agriculture

Livestock: Methane mitigation from manure management in China  

China is responsible for almost half of global livestock emissions from pigs, and a quarter of emissions from poultry. CCAC support resulted in recommendations for enhancing China’s NDC, identifying manure management as a priority strategy. Measures were integrated into China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and are under implementation. The measures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions while improving air quality, reducing methane as a precursor of tropospheric ozone.  

Paddy rice: Alternate Wetting and Drying in Bangladesh 

Rice is a staple crop in Bangladesh, with 75% of agricultural land used to cultivate rice. Flooding rice paddies is a common practice in the country, which is costly for farmers and creates the conditions for anaerobic microbes to emit methane. CCAC support promoted alternate wetting and drying (AWD) techniques in Bangladesh, resulting in 13,000 farmers trained to cut methane emissions equivalent to approximately 19,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year through the adoption of AWD techniques.  

Agricultural open-burning: Demonstration project in India  

In Northern India, 92 million tonnes of agricultural waste are burned every year to clear debris and make way for new crops. To mitigate this the CCAC supported a ‘no burn’ pilot demonstration project with the Punjab Agricultural Management and Extension Training Institute (PAMETI). Working closely with community leaders and implementing innovative alternatives, the pilot project recorded a 95% reduction in open burning in villages, and no field fires were detected during the 2019 burning season.  

Cooling

CCAC partners rallied support for the Kigali Amendment 

Starting in 2012, CCAC partners campaigned to reduce HFCs, worked together to get an agreement to pass the Kigali Amendment and were among the first to ratify it. The 2016 Kigali Amendment will deliver a minimum 80% reduction in the projected production and consumption of HFCs over the next 30 years avoiding up to 0.1°C of warming by 2050 and 0.4°C by the end of the century. 

Energy efficient mobile air conditioning demonstration project 

If no action is taken, HFCs could account for 0.5˚C of warming with 25%-35% of that contribution coming from automobile air-conditioning systems. The CCAC supported the development and testing of a new award-winning vehicle air conditioning system with the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of air conditioning while improving fuel efficiency and cutting operation costs. This innovation has the potential to reduce billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.  

HFC-free supermarket initiative in Chile  

As identified in a CCAC-UNDP supported national HFC inventory for Chile, the supermarket industry is the country’s largest user of HFCs. In response, the CCAC supported a demonstration project for a new Transcritical CO2 refrigeration system at the Jumbo Supermarket in the city of Valdivia in Chile. The technology has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with approximately 20% in energy savings, while honoring Chile’s commitments to the Montreal Protocol through HFC phase-down.  

Fossil fuels

CCAC Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 

In 2014, the CCAC created the voluntary Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) to support companies in reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The OGMP was launched at the 2014 UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit. By 2020, the OGMP had grown and was relaunched with a more ambitious and comprehensive reporting framework in partnership with over 100 oil and gas companies, UNEP, and other partners. 

Colombia mandates fossil fuel methane reductions  

The CCAC supported a multi-year project to build Colombia’s capacity to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas. The project resulted in the adoption of a policy following the highest international standards to establish a Leak Detection and Repair Program to monitor and respond to leaks across the supply chain. Colombia will become the first country in South America to regulate emissions from oil and gas once it has completed its flaring and fugitive methane emissions regulations.  

Nigeria's oil and gas methane guidelines 

With CCAC support, in 2018 Nigeria endorsed its landmark National Action Plan on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, including commitments to reduce fugitive methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 50% by 2030. CCAC support then facilitated the establishment of a baseline emissions inventory for leak detection and repair facilities, along with capacity building support which culminated in the country’s new Methane Guidelines. The guidelines will take swift industry action, including ensuring companies use high destruction efficiency flares and implement controls on venting devices. The CCAC is supporting implementation of these guidelines.  

Heavy-duty vehicles and engines

The Global Sulphur Strategy 

A transition to cleaner fuels along with matching vehicle standards can prevent an estimated 500,000 premature deaths per year by 2050. At the CCAC High Level Assembly in 2016, 36 countries recognized and fully endorsed the Global Sulphur Strategy, the first global plan to reduce small particulate and black carbon emissions from cars, buses and trucks by over 90% by 2030. Implementing the Global Strategy would reduce cumulative black carbon emissions by 7.1 million tonnes by 2050 – a major win for global air quality.  

Soot-free buses for 20 megacities  

Less than 20% of all buses sold globally meet the definition of soot-free, with the vast majority being diesel powered.  Through the Global Industry Partnership on Soot-Free Clean Bus Fleets, the CCAC partners supported a commitment from four of the world’s largest bus and engine manufacturers to provide soot-free engine technology buses to 20 megacities including Bangkok, Mexico City, Lagos, and Bogota.  

West African cleaner fuels and vehicles standards 

With a population of close to 400 million people, West Africa has one of the fastest growing vehicle fleets in the world with weak regulations making transportation a leading cause of air pollution. The CCAC and UNEP supported the development of comprehensive regulations for cleaner fuels and vehicles in the regions, adopted by 15 ministers at a meeting organized by the ECOWAS Commission. The standards include a sulfur standard for all imported fuels, a minimum EURO 4/IV vehicle emission standard for all imported vehicles, and a plan to improve fuel efficiency. The legally binding decision went into effect in 2021, and the CCAC is supporting implementation in partner countries.  

Household energy

Phasing out Kerosene in Nigeria  

Over 100 million people in Nigeria do not have access to grid electricity. In rural areas, only 34% of Nigerians have access to the grid. Instead they rely on kerosene lamps, candles and torches for lighting. The CCAC supported a five-year programme to completely phase-out kerosene lighting in Nigeria, benefitting 30 million people around the country. The results of this project spurred action from the President of Nigeria, who announced the phase-out of kerosene by 2030.  

Supporting cookstove ISO standards  

Some four million people die prematurely each year due to the fumes from kerosene or solid fuels (e.g. coal) stoves. The CCAC supported the development of ISO standards for testing protocols and laboratory measurement procedures to assess the performance of cookstoves under controlled laboratory conditions. Our support has boosted the international market in household energy technologies and fuels and driven improvements in technology quality and performance. 

Testing the usability of cookstove models in households  

The CCAC supported an innovative approach to tackling household air pollution, testing five types of clean cooking solutions in Nigeria. The project had a long-term goal to equip country leaders with on-the-ground data needed to identify and deliver reliable clean household energy to 1 million households by 2025. This was a major step in enhancing knowledge on clean cooking in various environments and informing investments into household energy.  

Waste

Kenya Waste Management Law 

Sustainable waste management is vital in Kenya, whose capital of Nairobi is home to one of the world’s largest open dumpsites, the Dandora dumpsite, which creates hazardous conditions and air quality. The CCAC supported the drafting of a bill which has now been signed into law as the Sustainable Waste Management Act, instituting the legal and institutional framework to sustainably and effectively manage the country’s waste. 

Organic waste management in São Paulo, Brazil  

São Paulo, Brazil is home to 12 million inhabitants, facing momentous challenges for waste disposal. In 2016, the CCAC supported the scale up of a pilot project for the city’s first composting facility, building capacity for organic waste separation among inhabitants and resulting in the development of four additional composting facilities in the city. Plans have been developed to launch 20-25 plants all together, improving livelihoods and public health while reducing methane emissions.  

Scaling up Peru’s municipal solid waste sector  

Organic waste in Peru is responsible for a third of the country’s methane emissions, with limited waste separation, few compost plans, and limited collection infrastructure. CCAC-supported tools enabled Peru to evaluate different technological solutions to determine the most cost-effective options and to analyze emissions reductions for waste management scenarios. The findings were integrated into a major Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA) project, and advanced implementation of the country’s NDC.