Science policy

Science plays a crucial role in the work of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), bringing together scientists, governments, and international organizations around common solutions and empowering our leaders to act. 

The CCAC, through our Scientific Advisory Panel, project funding, and the expertise of our partners, has raised global awareness of short-lived climate pollutants, their impacts and the benefits of reducing them. We continue to enhance scientific assessments and tools to support and accelerate evidence-based action.

Scientific Advisory Panel

We work with scientists from around the world to advance our understanding of short-lived climate pollutant impacts, solutions, and the benefits of action.

The CCAC’s Scientific Advisory Panel (SAP) is comprised of up to 20 scientists from different academic backgrounds and regions of the world. SAP members are nominated by CCAC partners and selected by decision of the CCAC governance to serve on the panel for terms of two years. 

See all members

Global action 

We place a strong scientific understanding of SLCPs at the centre of our work. This is because an informed approach is essential to give policymakers the confidence to take action that does not disrupt the livelihoods and food security of the vulnerable.  

CCAC research, analyses, and tools support policy actions to reduce short-lived climate pollutants by demonstrating the potential for fast action and the multiple benefits that follow. 

Scientific analysis supported by the CCAC has played a key role in ensuring short-lived climate pollutants are recognized in global agreements and science-policy platforms such as: 

• Global Methane Pledge (2021): With targeted funding, advocacy, and the Global Methane Assessment, the CCAC spurred action that led to the creation of the Global Methane Pledge. The CCAC now provides GMP participating countries support to develop national methane action plans, sectoral mitigation plans, and Methane Country Projections estimate national methane mitigation potential, the cost of mitigation solutions, and the benefits of action.

• IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ºC (2018): In 2018, the IPCC published the Global Warming of 1.5˚C Special Report which links climate change mitigation and clean air and highlights the important role that non-carbon dioxide (CO₂) climate forcers like methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) play in limiting warming to 1.5˚C. Four members of the CCAC’s Scientific Advisory Panel were chapter authors.

• Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol (2016): Since its inception in 2012 the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) has led a global initiative to help countries transition away from high global-warming potential HFCs, funding HFC-alternative demonstration projects and the development of national HFC inventories. CCAC partners worked together to get an agreement to pass the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and were among the first to ratify it. 

Raising awareness 

More and more countries are committing to reducing short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), however this was not always the case. Prior to 2011, little was known about the role of pollutants other than carbon dioxide in global warming, and air pollution and climate change were still largely seen as separate problems. 

Since our founding in 2012, the CCAC has been a driving force behind the growing understanding that air pollution and climate change share common sources and solutions.

We have worked to mobilize research and scientific enquiry into the potential to address multiple development challenges in climate, food security, human health, and biodiversity simultaneously by reducing SLCPs. We do so through annual science dialogues and updates, sponsoring targeted research such as the Global Methane Assessment, and by linking our scientific partner organizations with policy makers. 

The strength of our science has brought SLCPs to the top of the agenda in multiple international platforms, such as the IPCC’s regular assessment reports and the G7.

SLCP RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS 

By funding research into SLCP impacts and mitigation, the CCAC helps our partners and stakeholders better understand SLCP emissions and the opportunities to scale up and accelerate mitigation solutions.

Since 2011, several milestone publications have advanced the science and awareness of SLCPs significantly. These include: