Short-lived climate pollutant mitigation and the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The post-2015 development agenda is dominated by a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which arose from the 2012 Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The agreed 17 goals and 169 targets address diverse and intersecting aspects of human and environmental needs and challenges. Achieving the SDGs by 2030 requires implementing coordinated and concerted strategies and actions that minimize potential trade-offs and conflicts and maximize synergies to contribute to multiple SDGs 1. Measures to mitigate emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) are an example of actions that contribute to multiple outcomes relevant to development 2,3. This paper highlights the interlinkages between SLCPs and the SDGs and shows that implementing SLCP emissions reduction measures will contribute to achieving many of the SDGs. 1.0. Mitigating SLCPs SLCPs are agents that contribute to warming but have relatively short lifetimes in the atmosphere-a few days to a few decades-consequently harmful concentrations of SLCPs can be reduced in a matter of weeks to years, resulting in near-term benefits. Many SLCPs are also powerful air pollutants which are significant contributors to premature death and chronic illness globally and harm the environment. The main SLCPs are black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) (Figure 1).

The regional temperature implications of strong air quality measures

“…Thus, the feasibility of only executing the climateoptimal measures is lower than if there were no other concerns. SLCFs mitigation will lead to numerous other benefits, reducing health problems, increasing yields from agriculture, and achieving several of the sustainable development targets (UN, 2015;Haines et al, 2017). Many of the measures with the largest overall economic benefits involve SO 2 reductions, measures that may be difficult for policymakers to neglect while prioritizing less beneficial measures that are climateoptimal.…”

“…In comparison, a complete removal of anthropogenic emissions of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and SO 2 (sulfate aerosol precursor) would induce a global mean surface heating of 0.5-1.1 • C, according to four recent climate models (Samset et al, 2018). Going beyond temperature and precipita-tion impacts, SLCF emission mitigation is also known to have multiple co-benefits and trade-offs with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Haines et al, 2017). The co-benefits are generally larger than the trade-offs.…”

The regional temperature implications of strong air quality measures

“…Thus, the feasibility of only executing the climate-optimal measures is lower than if there were no other concerns. SLCFs mitigation will lead to numerous other benefits, reducing health problems, increasing yields from agriculture, and achieving several of the sustainable development targets (UN, 2015;Haines et al, 2017). Many of the measures with the largest overall economic benefits involve SO2 reductions, measures that may be difficult by policymakers to neglect while prioritizing less beneficial measures that are climate-optimal.…”

“…In comparison, a complete removal of anthropogenic aerosol emissions (BC, OC and SO2) would induce a global mean surface heating of 0.5-1.1°C, according to four recent climate models (Samset et al, 2018). Going beyond temperature and precipitation impacts, SLCF emission mitigation is also known to have close links with a range of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Haines et al, 2017).…”

The Imperative for Climate Action to Protect Health

“…Well-designed policies for the mitigation of climate change can also contribute to the achievement of many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 53…”