Save Lives, Protect Food and Slow Climate Change – all at once

About

By integrating action on climate change and air pollution, countries can help reduce the rate of global warming this decade, while also achieving quick development benefits in sectors such as health, energy, agriculture and transport. 

The strategies to jointly address air pollution and climate change are cost-effective, can be implemented now and, most importantly, can yield results by 2030. Connecting climate change and health can be an important driver for action and help attracting international support. 

To date, eight governments have taken this on board in their national climate and development plans. This session will look at the experiences in Central America, the Maldives and Nigeria – and discuss how other countries can take up this opportunity. 

Relevance

2030 is an important milestone for development and climate action. 

The panellists in this event will focus on practical measures and describe how jointly addressing air pollution and climate change will deliver quick development benefits for their country. If all countries take similar measures, we could avoid 2.4m premature deaths and avoid 55m tonnes of crop losses globally each year. 

The same measures can also reduce the rate of warming in the near-term by 0.6°C – reducing the risks climate change puts on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

Governments across the world often silo approaches to air pollution and climate, which means opportunities are often missed. Our aim is to change this. 

Speakers:

• Prof. Drew Shindell, CCAC Special Representative for Action on Methane
• Prof. Graciela Raga, Atmosphere Sciences Center, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
• Ms. Aminath Maiha Hameed, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, The Maldives
• Mr. Bala Bappa, Ministry of Environment, Nigeria

Outcomes

This session will offer countries and other stakeholders:  

• Inspiration to integrate climate and air pollutant approaches 
• Best practices to follow, including barriers and ways to overcome them 
• Tools and capacity building options 
• An opportunity to apply for small technical assistance, through the Climate & Clean Air Coalition  
• Opportunities to engage in regional meetings and activities in Africa and Asia  

The European Development Days side event will be hosted by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition with participation from multiple partners. For more information and to register for this event, click on the link below.