For the First Time Since 2020, CCAC Board Comes Together in Person

Last week, the CCAC board met in Paris for the first in-person meeting since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Co-chaired by Ghana and the United States, the Board provides regular oversight of Coalition activities and initiatives and is comprised of officials from Argentina, Canada, Colombia, the European Commission, India, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, and Switzerland, as well as representatives from the Clean Air Task Force, World Resources Institute, FAO, and the World Bank. In addition, this meeting, the Board welcomed members of the CCAC’s Scientific Advisory Panel.

The Board heard several presentations from the CCAC Secretariat, including on the Global Methane Pledge; the presence of SLCPs in the IPCC 6th assessment report; the WHO’s new Global Air Quality Guidelines; the CCAC’s forthcoming Africa Assessment; and opportunities for private sector engagement on SLCPs. The co-chairs led a deep-dive discussion into important programs in the coming years, especially in regard to implementation of the CCAC’s engagement strategy, including on heavy-duty vehicles and engines; fossil fuels; national planning, policy and implementation; agriculture; waste; household energy; cooling; and financing.

In addition to these engaging and fruitful discussions, the Board spent considerable time looking forward to new challenges and key moments over the next year and a half, including COP27. With the news that Egypt has recently signed the Global Methane Pledge, the upcoming COP in Sharm El Sheikh could be pivotal for SLCPs. However, given the urgent need to cut air pollutants to help prevent the worst impacts of climate change, we must ensure the nexus of clean air and climate change mitigation receives more attention in the UNFCCC process.