What can be done to reduce short-lived climate pollutants?

What can be done to reduce short-lived climate pollutants?
According to UNEP (2011b) there are a number of measures for reducing black carbon
and ozone precursors that could begin to protect climate, public health, water, food
security, and ecosystems immediately. They include recovering methane from extraction
of coal, oil, gas, as well as from transport; capturing methane in waste management; using
clean-burning stoves for residential cooking and diesel particulate filters for vehicles; and
banning open burning of agricultural waste. Full implementation of these measures is
achievable with existing technology but would require significant strategic investment and
institutional arrangements.
About 50% of methane and black carbon emission reductions can be achieved through
measures that result in net cost savings (as a global average) over their lifetime. These
savings come about from initial investments being offset, for example, by reduced fuel use
or the use of recovered methane. A further one-third of the total methane emission
reduction could be addressed at relatively moderate costs.
In developing countries, efforts to reduce SLCPs can build on existing institutions,
policies and regulatory frameworks for air quality management, and, where applicable,
climate change. For many developing countries, these efforts can be connected to
development goals and mainstreamed into development policies and sustainable
development strategies. Action to replace domestic cook stoves with new efficient ones, for
instance, offers a good example of a policy decision with visible development benefits.
Countries can take action now to rapidly implement control measures to address the
most obvious SLCP sources knowing that multiple benefits will result. Efforts to combat SLCPs
are not new. Projects and programmes at the global, regional and local levels have been
supported by OECD member countries and international organisations for decades. Some of
these are described briefly below. The lessons learned from initiatives such as these can help
countries to scale up efforts and develop national SLCP action plans in priority areas.
Improved cooking to reduce black carbon. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is
a public-private initiative to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat
climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household
cooking solutions. It comprises a range of organisations – from cottage industries to largescale
companies – that are supplying clean, efficient, affordable, and user-desired stoves
and fuels on a large scale,