Short-lived climate pollutant solutions

Short-lived climate pollutants - including black carbon, methane, hydrofluorocarbons, and tropospheric ozone – are air pollutants with global warming potentials many times that of carbon dioxide. They also significantly impact food, water and economic security for large populations throughout the world, both directly through their negative effects on public health, agriculture and ecosystems, and indirectly through their impact on the climate.

The relatively short atmospheric lifetime of short-lived climate pollutants, combined with their strong warming potential, means that strategies to reduce emissions can deliver climate and development benefits within a matter of decades.

Black carbon emissions can be reduced by 70% globally by 2030, methane emissions can be reduced by 40% globally by 2030, and HFCs can be reduced by 99.5% by 2050.

The United Nations Environment Programme and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) have identified a package of control measures to reduce short-lived climate pollutants that can achieve 90% of the above total potential emissions reductions for black carbon, methane, and HFCs. Many of these measures involve cost-effective technologies and practices that already exist.

If quickly implemented, these measures can cut the amount of warming that would occur over the next few decades by as much as 0.6°C, while avoiding 2.4 million premature deaths from outdoor air pollution annually by 2030, and preventing 52 million tonnes of crop losses per year.

The below list outlines a non-exhaustive and continuously evolving range of activities targeting individual pollutants and key emitting sectors.

Agriculture

Optimize livestock production efficiency to reduce methane emission intensity through breeding practices, herd and animal health management, and feed and pasture management
Control methane emissions from rice cultivation through adoption of direct dry seeding rice varieties, intermittent aeration of continuously flooded rice paddies, and rice straw
Promote composting, anaerobic digestion, and solid-liquid separation to control nitrous oxide and methane emissions from livestock manure
Promote integrated nutrient management—combining precision application, enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, and soil-health practices—to improve nitrogen-use efficiency, sustain yields, and cut nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use
Eliminate open burning in agriculture through regulation, promotion of alternative residue uses, adoption of no-till practices, and farmer education
In countries with high consumption rates of animal sourced foods, promote consumer awareness of healthy diets according to WHO guidelines and their link to environmental sustainability

Fossil Fuels

Carry out pre-mining de-gasification and recovery and oxidation of methane from ventilation air from coal mines
Reduce leakage from long-distance gas transmission and distribution pipelines
Extend recovery and utilisation from gas and oil production
Recover and use gas and fugitive emissions during oil and natural gas production
Improve flaring efficiency in oil and gas production

Waste

Municipal solid waste:

Avoidance and Diversion:

Post-harvest and cold chain efficiency
Consumer and retail behavior change
Food donation and surplus redistribution;
Animal feed recovery
Other innovative approaches that prevent or reduce organic waste generation

Separation and Collection:

Source separation of organic waste at the household, commercial, and institutional levels
Dedicated organics collection and transport systems
Material recovery facilities (MRF)

Valorization:

Black Soldier Fly
Composting (centralized and decentralized)
Anaerobic digestion

Dumpsite Rehabilitation or Closure:

Closure and capping with biocovers
Conversion and upgrading of dumpsites to engineered landfills through methane capture and utilisation

Elimination of open waste burning:

Improved collection systems
Controlled disposal,
Landfill rehabilitation and upgrading

Waste water:

Separation and collection of wastewater sludge (primary and secondary)
Anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge with biogas capture and utilisation

transport

Adopt ultra-low sulphur diesel and minimum Euro 6/VI emission standards
Establish global soot-free vehicle standards for international trade (no dumping of dirty used vehicles)
Adopt standards for soot-free non-road mobile machinery and stationary diesel engines. Adopt ultra-low sulphur diesel and minimum EU Stage V emission standards
Zero tailpipe emissions and 100% elimination of fossil-based fuels for heavy-duty transport and non-road mobile machinery and stationary diesel engines by 2050
Adopt a black carbon emission standard for all new ships and a methane emission standard for new LNG-fuelled ships
Develop diesel emissions policies for inland water transport in relevant countries by 2030
Significantly reduce emissions of black carbon, PM and other pollutants and GHGs from freight by enhancing existing, and developing new, green freight programs

Household Energy

Extend electricity infrastructure
Replace traditional cooking with clean-burning modern fuel and cookstove technology, such as solar, biogas, electricity
Eliminate kerosene lamps

Cooling

Replace high-global warming potential hydrofluorocarbons with low- or zero-global warming potential alternatives, combined with improvements in lifecycle energy efficiency.
Implement Lifecycle Refrigerant Management (LRM) by avoiding and reducing refrigerant leaks, promoting refrigerant recovery, and increasing reclamation rates to mitigate unnecessary refrigerant use and emissions.
Establish and enforce regulations to prevent the dumping of inefficient cooling appliances with high-GWP refrigerants, including import and export bans of such appliances