National Planning (SNAP)

Emissions of short-lived climate pollutants - such as black carbon, methane and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - and associated emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants are harming millions of people around the world through their direct and indirect impacts on human health, agriculture, ecosystems, and the climate.

Compelling scientific evidence indicates that fast action to control these pollutants will achieve substantial, immediate climate and air quality benefits for communities around the world. Achieving this requires action at the national scale, as decision making is often made at the national level.

Rapid reductions in short-lived climate pollutant emissions can be achieved through the implementation of cost-effective measures through national policies, programmes and regulatory frameworks, such as those used to address air quality, climate change and sustainable development. The need for urgent action to address short-lived climate pollutants is now widely recognised, but support for national governments is needed to identify and promote the key measures that can bring rapid health and environmental benefits for their country, and global climate benefits.

The Coalition’s SNAP Initiative (Supporting National Action & Planning on Short-lived climate pollutants) is a collaborative programme aimed at supporting the efforts of Coalition partner countries to scale up action in a coordinated and prioritized way. This includes helping countries to identify and implement the most cost-effective pathways to large-scale implementation of mitigation measures that will reduce near-term warming while also improving air quality, human health and crop yields.

The SNAP initiative aims to address various challenges countries are facing to scale up action. These include:
 

• Lack of awareness of the short-lived climate pollutants issues and the links between air pollution and climate change mitigation amongst the key government departments and stakeholders in the country
• Lack of knowledge of emission sources and the ability to quantify the magnitude of relevant emissions and the potential for mitigation that hinders the ability to take informed decisions
• A lack of institutional capacity to coordinate the implementation of short-lived climate pollutant measures
• A lack of coordination between air quality and climate planning departments within governments resulting in inefficient planning and siloed strategies to address both problems and scattered, uncoordinated action being taken to implement measures that achieve the near-term climate, health and ecosystem benefits
• Little or limited planning to embed short-lived climate pollutant policies within national strategies, plans and programmes
• A lack of consideration of the role that regional and other international processes and agreements could play in the mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants and coordinated air quality and climate change mitigation planning