November 2022 saw the release of the "Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa -the Summary for Decision Makers Report" (UNEP, 2022), by the African Union Commission (AUC), the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) at Climate COP27 (Figure 1). Developed by African scientists and supported by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), the report unpacks how short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), greenhouse gases and other polluting emissions play a role in sustainable development in Africa. It also considers strategies, policies, and measures to mitigate these pollutants, while supporting development and human health and wellbeing in Africa on a warming planet. This is the first time that such detailed and harmonized Pan-African assessment on air quality and climate change has happened. Not only will the results of the Assessment provide a critical evidence base for decision-makers across the continent, but the underlying emissions data and tools will be open access to support further studies, and policy measures. In 2022 at the Eighteenth Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-18), African Ministers stated their support of the Assessment and of measures to mitigate SLCPs and ''urge African countries to support further development and implementation of the 37 recommended measures as a continentwide Africa Clean Air Program, coordinated by strong country-led initiatives, cascaded to the Regional Economic Communities and higher levels of policy" (UNEP and AMCEN, 2022).Using harmonized emission inventories and projections, climate chemistry model (GISS-E2.1-G model; Kelley et al., 2020) simulations were driven to estimate the impact of these emission on climate and air quality on the African continent. These future projections of climate and air pollution under the three scenarios were then used to quantify the impacts of a changing climate and of air pollution on societal issues, such as food production and human health.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.