The Climate and Clean Air Coalition Welcomes Four New Partners in the Fight Against Short-Lived Climate Pollutants

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is pleased to welcome four new member countries who recognize the value of linking action on climate change and air pollution, and the fundamental need for bold and decisive action now. These countries will be working with the CCAC to reduce methane emissions — actions that have the potential to avoid nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045 and prevent 260,000 premature deaths from air pollution — as well as a variety of other short-lived climate pollutants.
 

Senegal

As a coastal nation, Senegal is already experiencing the effects of climate change, as sea levels rise and precipitation decreases. The country is heavily dependent on agriculture and fishing, and by 2035, the effects of climate change are expected to reduce agricultural yields by 30 percent, according to research by the United Nations Environment Programme. Flooding has already cost the country millions of dollars in damages.

“We are in a climate emergency and scientists tell us that the only way to protect people is to reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emissions now. We can do this by focusing our efforts on actions that reduce short-lived climate pollutants, and also by building resilience,” said Mme Khadidiatou Dramé on behalf of Senegal’s Minister of the Environment.

Senegal joined the Coalition because of the urgent need for climate change action, and because short-lived climate pollutants are the best opportunity for climate action that will deliver near-term benefits — not only for the climate but for human health and development. Some 63,000 premature deaths are caused by air pollution every year, according to the Global Alliance against Health and Pollution (GAHP).

Moreover, it is why Senegal proposed the creation of a working group to identify the best “available, accessible and affordable technologies to reduce methane,” a potent climate forcer many times more powerful than carbon at warming the planet. 

“[Methane] reduction is one of the best ways to stay below 1.5 degrees during this decade. And this is essential for Africa,” Dramé said.

Senegal and the CCAC have already partnered together on the Coalition’s municipal solid waste initiative to reduce SLCPs from waste in the capital city of Dakar. The city received technical assistance from the CCAC to assess its waste and develop an action plan to reduce SLCPs from the waste sector in 2018, through strategies such as reducing open burning of waste and closing unsanitary landfills. They also received capacity building in different waste topics.

Nepal

Nepal has a robust history with the CCAC, having partnered with the Coalition on a variety of initiatives including working to reduce SLCPs in the brick sector in the aftermath of the country's devastating 2015 earthquake. The brick sector is one of the largest sources of black carbon and particulate matter emissions in the country’s Kathmandu Valley. The CCAC worked with Nepal to rebuild many of its brick kilns using a zig-zag pattern which increases the efficiency of the kiln and reduces black carbon emissions by as much as 60%, saving money for the entrepreneurs, and improving working conditions for the kiln workers. 

In 2015, over 100 CCAC partners met in Kathmandu to develop a five-year strategic plan of action. Hosted by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the meeting focused on both brick production and open burning of agricultural waste.

Nepal is vulnerable to climate change in several ways, notably in its mountain ecosystems: between 1977 and 2010, the ice in Nepal’s Himalayas was reduced by almost a third. As such, climate action in the country is critical. Nepal submitted its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in 2020, pledging to distribute 500,000 improved cookstoves and 200,000 household biogas plants, install 500 large-scale biogas plants by 2025, ensure 15% of total energy demand is supplied from clean energy sources by 2030, and increase the country’s electric vehicle fleet, among other things.

“I hope that the membership with CCAC helps us [with] implementation of our NDC,” said Joint Secretary Ajay Karki, Ministry of Forests and Environment, Nepal, adding that the country plans to implement policies to help their goals happen.

Nepal is particularly interested in reducing SLCPs through national environmental policy and laws and hopes to focus on solid waste management, smart agriculture and livestock management, wastewater management and actions to reduce black carbon.

“We need support in capacity building and some technical supports, we have lagging of both the capacity and the resource flow,” said Karki. “The representation of CCAC in South Asia is very poor. So we need to make it better in the days to come.”

Palau

As a small island developing state in the Pacific Ocean consisting of hundreds of islands, Palau is one of the most vulnerable places in the world when it comes to climate change. Sea level rise and increasing storm surges are among the threats likely to increase in the years to come. Cutting short-lived climate pollutants is a critical strategy for reducing warming in the short term, opening a small but vital window for nations like Palau to adapt to a changing climate.

This is why Palau signed onto the Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary commitment to contribute to a collective effort to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2˚C warming by 2050.

“We stand ready to take the next step and work towards implementation by also joining the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. CCAC’s efforts to reduce short-lived climate pollutants align with Palau’s priorities,” said Umi Sengebau, the former Minister of Environment of Palau. “Palau is already experiencing the impacts of climate change. It is in our interest to take further action to protect the environment, our public health. Action on short-lived climate pollutants promotes food and energy security and addresses near-term climate change and air pollution issues.”

Palau’s enhanced NDCs include a 45 percent renewable energy target and a 35 percent energy efficiency target by 2025. Palau is currently working on getting better data from the waste and transport sectors in order to better integrate these sectors into its upcoming NDCs. Palau needs support on building its technical capacity to compile information for a baseline for both of these sectors.

Cameroon

Climate change is already fueling displacement in Cameroon, as global temperature increases manifest even more intensely across the African continent. 

Over 3 billion people around the world use biomass to cook and heat their homes, resulting in air pollution that increases the risk of early death for humans of all ages and is responsible for up to 15 percent of fatalities for children under five. In one study at a Cameroonian hospital, over half of the infants had acute respiratory infections.

Reducing short-lived climate pollutants is the most powerful lever we have to slow near-term global warming and to simultaneously decrease air pollution, saving millions of lives. This is why Cameroon is joining the CCAC and continuing its commitment to transition to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for clean cooking across the country. 

Cameroon has already undertaken a national planning process to start the transition, with a goal of moving from 12% national usage to 58% by 2030, reducing black carbon and other short-lived pollutants while also stemming deforestation and improving health nationally.