Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

International Initiatives on Air Quality and Climate Change

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Air Quality and Climate Change

  • 21 Accesses

Abstract

In this chapter we introduce a number of international governance frameworks and initiatives that, to varying degrees, support and advance integrated policy making on air pollution and climate change. This is often achieved via governance of and/or attention to short-lived climate-forcing pollutants (SLCPs), which have negative impacts on both climate and air quality. We consider UN institutions including UN Climate Change and the UN Environment Program as well as non-UN bodies such as the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and the Arctic Council. We examine their structure, focus, and activities, considering the ways in which they increase the integration of air quality and climate change policy making. Overall, there is broad recognition that an integrated approach can help avoid unintended consequences as well as capitalize on synergies and create multiple benefits – not only for air quality and climate, but for other development goals, including employment and food and energy security. Reflecting this, the international governance landscape has begun to trend towards more integration. Although most relevant international bodies began with and maintain a focus on either air quality or climate change, many have taken on work streams in the other, complementary field. The increased integration of the two topics is also reflected in increased interlinkages between these organizations themselves, for which there are large overlaps in membership as well as formal cooperative activities and programs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Mar KA, Unger C (2019) A practical approach to integrating climate and air quality policy. In: IASS Policy Brief. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies. Potsdam, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  2. von Schneidemesser E, Monks PS (2013) Air quality and climate – synergies and trade-offs. Environ Sci Process Impacts 15(7):1315–1325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Maione M, Fowler D, Monks PS, Reis S, Rudich Y, Williams ML, Fuzzi S (2016) Air quality and climate change: designing new win-win policies for Europe. Environ Sci Pol 65:48–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. von Schneidemesser E, Kuik F, Mar KA, Butler T (2017) Potential reductions in ambient NO2 concentrations from meeting diesel vehicle emissions standards. Environ Res Lett 12(11):114025

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Helmers E, Leitão J, Tietge U, Butler T (2019) CO2-equivalent emissions from European passenger vehicles in the years 1995–2015 based on real-world use: assessing the climate benefit of the European “diesel boom”. Atmos Environ 198:122–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Zusman E, Unger C, Borgford-Parnell N, Mar KA (2021) One atmosphere: integrating air pollution and climate policy and governance. Atmos 12(12):1570

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Helgenberger S, Jänicke M, Gürtler K (2019) Co-benefits of climate change mitigation. In: S.I. Publishing (ed) Climate action: encyclopedia of the UN sustainable development goals. https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-3-319-95885-9. Springer

  8. Mewes C, Unger C (2021) Learning by doing: co-benefits drive national plans for climate and air quality governance. Atmos 12(9):1184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Shindell D et al (2017) A climate policy pathway for near- and long-term benefits. Science 356(6337):493

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Mar KA (2021) Putting the brakes on climate change – it’s about more than just CO2. Climanosco Res Articles 3 pp 1–10

    Google Scholar 

  11. Green Climate Fund (2018) Environmental and social policy. https://www.greenclimate.fund/document/environmental-and-social-policy. Green Climate Fund, Incheon, South Korea, pp 1–23

  12. Pekkarinen V (2020) Going beyond CO2: strengthening action on global methane emissions under the UN climate regime. Rev Eur Compar Int Environ Law 29:464–478

    Google Scholar 

  13. UNEP (2021) Regulating air quality: the first global assessment of air pollution legislation. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  14. UN General Assembly (1972) Institutional and financial arrangements for international environmental cooperation. In: United Nations General Assembly (ed) 2997 (XXVII). United Nations General Assembly

    Google Scholar 

  15. Ivanova M (2010) UNEP in global environmental governance: design, leadership, location. Global Environ Polit 10(1):30–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. UNEP, WMO (2011) Integrated assessment of black carbon and tropospheric ozone. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  17. UNEP, CCAC (2016) Integrated assessment of short-lived climate pollutants for Latin America and the Caribbean: improving air quality while mitigating climate change. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (ed). Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  18. Watts N et al (2015) Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. Lancet 386(10006):1861–1914

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. UNEP, CCAC (2021) Global methane assessment: benefits and costs of mitigating methane emissions. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (ed). Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ramanathan V et al (2001) Indian Ocean experiment: an integrated analysis of the climate forcing and effects of the great indo-Asian haze. J Geophys Res Atmos 106(D22):28371–28398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Ramanathan V et al (2005) Atmospheric brown clouds: impacts on south Asian climate and hydrological cycle. Proc Natl Acad Sci 102(15):5326–5333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. UNEP, C4 (2002) The Asian brown cloud: climate and other environmental impacts. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (ed). Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  23. Kaufman YJ, Tanré D, Boucher O (2002) A satellite view of aerosols in the climate system. Nature 419(6903):215–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ramanathan V, Crutzen PJ (2003) New directions: atmospheric Brown “clouds”. Atmos Environ 37:4033–4035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. UNEP (2017) Preventing and reducing air pollution to improve air quality globally. In: UNEP/EA.3/Res.8. United Nations Environment Assembly of the United Nations Environment Program, Nairobi

    Google Scholar 

  26. UNEP. About air. [cited 2022 24-04-2022]. https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/air/about-air

  27. CCAC. About us. [cited 2022 24.04]. https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/content/about

  28. Unger C, Mar KA, Gürtler K (2020) A club’s contribution to global climate governance: the case of the climate and clean air coalition. Palgrave Commun 6(1):99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. CCAC (2021) Annual report: 2020–2021 [cited 2022 24.04]. https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/content/annual-report-2020-2021

  30. Lode B, Toussaint P (2016) Clean air for all by 2030? In: IASS policy brief. Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies. Potsdam, Germany

    Google Scholar 

  31. CLRTAP (2018) Long-term strategy for the convention on long-range transboundary air pollution for 2020–2030 and beyond. In: Decision 2018/5

    Google Scholar 

  32. CLRTAP (2012) 1999 protocol to abate acidification, eutrophication and ground-level ozone to the convention on long- range transboundary air pollution, as amended on 4 May 2012. In: ECE/EB.AIR/114

    Google Scholar 

  33. Shapovalova D (2016) The effectiveness of the regulatory regime for black carbon mitigation in the Arctic. Arctic Rev Law Polit 7(2):136–151

    Google Scholar 

  34. von Schneidemesser E, Mar KA, Saar D (2017) Black carbon in Europe: targeting an air pollutant and climate forcer. IASS Policy Brief

    Google Scholar 

  35. Khan SA (2016) The global commons through a regional lens: the Arctic council on short-lived climate pollutants. Transnatl Environ Law 6:131–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Yamineva Y, Kulovesi K (2018) Keeping the Arctic white: the legal and governance landscape for reducing short-lived climate pollutants in the Arctic region. Transnatl Environ Law 7(2):201–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Mar KA, Unger C, Walderdorff L, Butler T (2022) Beyond CO2 equivalence: the impacts of methane on climate, ecosystems, and health. Environ Sci Pol 134:127–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Turnock ST et al (2018) The impact of future emission policies on tropospheric ozone using a parameterised approach. Atmos Chem Phys 18(12):8953–8978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Stephen MD, Stephen K (2020) The integration of emerging powers into club institutions: China and the Arctic council. Global Pol 11(S3):51–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Smieszek M (2019) Evaluating institutional effectiveness: the case of the Arctic council. Polar J 9:3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Arctic Council (1996) Declaration on the establishment of the Arctic Council (the Ottawa declaration)

    Google Scholar 

  42. ACIA (2004) Impacts of a warming Arctic: Arctic climate impact assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  43. AMAP (2021) Arctic climate change update 2021: key trends and impacts. Summary for policy-makers. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Tromsø

    Google Scholar 

  44. AMAP (2015) AMAP assessment 2015: methane as an Arctic climate forcer, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (ed). Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  45. Dean JF et al (2018) Methane feedbacks to the global climate system in a warmer world. Rev Geophys 56(1):207–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Cavazos Guerra C, Lauer A, Rosenthal E (2017) Clean air and white ice: governing black carbon emissions affecting the Arctic. In: Keil K, Knecht S (eds) Governing Arctic change: global perspectives. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK, pp 231–256

    Google Scholar 

  47. Vincent WF (2020) Arctic climate change: local impacts, global consequences, and policy implications. In: Coates KS, Holroyd C (eds) The Palgrave handbook of Arctic policy and politics. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 507–526

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  48. AMAP (2011) The impact of black carbon on Arctic climate. In: AMAP technical report no. 4. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  49. AMAP (2008) The impact of short-lived pollutants on Arctic climate. In: Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (ed) AMAP technical report no. 1 (2008). Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, Oslo

    Google Scholar 

  50. Arctic Council Task Force on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (2011) An assessment of emissions and mitigation options for black carbon for the Arctic council. Arctic Council. Tromsø, Norway

    Google Scholar 

  51. Arctic Council Task Force on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (2013) In: Arctic Council (ed) Recommendations to reduce black carbon and methane emissions to slow Arctic climate change. Arctic Council

    Google Scholar 

  52. Arctic Council (2015) Enhanced black carbon and methane emission reductions: an Arctic council framework for action. Iqaluit, Nunavut

    Google Scholar 

  53. Arctic Council (2017) Fairbanks declaration. Fairbanks, Alaska

    Google Scholar 

  54. EGBCM (2021) Expert group on black carbon and methane – 3rd summary of progress and recommendations. Arctic Council Secretariat. Tromsø, Norway

    Google Scholar 

  55. Dickie G, Gardner T (2022) Arctic Council in upheaval over Russia as climate change transforms region. [cited 2022 03–23]. https://www.reuters.com/world/arctic-council-countries-halt-meetings-over-russias-invasion-ukraine-2022-03-03/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam (RIFS), Potsdam, Germany

    Kathleen A. Mar & Charlotte Unger

Authors
  1. Kathleen A. Mar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Charlotte Unger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kathleen A. Mar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nat'l Inst for Env Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Hajime Akimoto

  2. National Institute for Environ Studies, Tsukuba,Ibaraki, Japan

    Hiroshi Tanimoto

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Mar, K.A., Unger, C. (2023). International Initiatives on Air Quality and Climate Change. In: Akimoto, H., Tanimoto, H. (eds) Handbook of Air Quality and Climate Change. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2527-8_47-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2527-8_47-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-2527-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-2527-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation