Comprising nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the urban areas become the core of Climate and Clean Air Coalition strategy to reduce climate pollutants.
Climate and Clean Air Coalition is a new global partnership for rapidly scaling up reductions of short-lived climate pollutants like methane, black carbon, and HFCs.
In her remarks today at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Special Representative Jo Lewis stressed that these pollutants cause over 30 percent of current global warming, millions of premature deaths worldwide each year, poor air quality, and extensive crop losses.
She notes that since the Coalition’s February launch by U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, EPA Administrator Jackson, ministers from five other countries, and the head of UNEP, the Coalition has tripled its membership.
“We are in the midst of launching a handful of initiatives across the full range of these pollutants.” -Ms. Lewis
She says urban areas contribute nearly 80 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
At the same time, city-driven solutions can quickly reach billions, she added.
She emphasizes that quite literally, cities are where the rubber hits the road.
She announces that a groundbreaking partnership of cities, countries, our Coalition, the World Bank, the Global Methane Initiative, and CCI/C-40 are all joining together to reduce climate pollutants from solid waste, the third largest source of man-made methane worldwide.
Methane is a substance 20 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, Ms. Lewis noted.
Moreover, left unaddressed, Ms. Lewis highlightes that municipal solid waste is predicted to double by 2025.
The Coalition will be working with cities to provide an array of common-sense, results-driven technical expertise and capacity building, she cited.
Climate and Clean Air Coalition partner countries like Mexico, Canada, Bangladesh, the United States, Nigeria, and others will cooperate closely, she emphasized.
“We’ll also be building a knowledge platform of best practices to share with cities around the world.” -Ms. Lewis
Ms. Lewis says she is grateful for the tremendous spirit of cooperation they have had so far with an initial group of leading cities.
“We look forward very much to working with others on this action-oriented, real-world partnership.” -Ms. Lewis
Ms. Lewis is the Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
In February this year, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also announced a new global initiative called the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants.
The coalition will seize the opportunity of realizing concrete benefits on climate, health, food and energy resulting from reducing short-lived climate pollutants.
The founding coalition partners are Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States, together with the UN Environment Programme.
The focus of the new initiative is to curb methane, black carbon, and hydrofluorocarbons.
The coalition has listed and discussed a set of 16 major actions that could be taken either on black carbon or methane, which could have quite striking effects with respect to global warming.
The coalition is going to be aimed at action, at attracting high-level political support, mobilizing resources, catalyzing and helping to drive the implementation.
