• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
BREAKING: UN Nature Summit, the ‘Paris Conference for Biodiversity’, Moves to Montreal in December June 19, 2022
‘LET’S SUE BIG OIL’: Legal Team Launches Class Action Campaign for B.C. Municipalities June 17, 2022
‘It Could Have Been Any of Us’, Colleague Says, After Brazil Confirms Murders of Bruno Pereira, Dom Phillips June 17, 2022
Infrastructure Gap a ‘Life and Death’ Matter as Northern Canada Warms June 17, 2022
Ban Fossil Fuel Ads Like Tobacco Promos, Doctors Urge Ottawa June 10, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Climate News Network

Urgent campaign to curb pollutants’ deadly effects

March 6, 2015
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Kieran Cooke

A woman cooking on a smoky wood-burning clay stove in Nepal.

A woman cooking on a smoky wood-burning clay stove in Nepal.

 

Carbon dioxide is public enemy No 1 in the fight against climate change, but other pollution is having a big impact − and causing millions of premature deaths. LONDON, 6 March, 2015 − They are called short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), but they play a significant role in global warming, as well as leading to serious health problems. Although they exist for far shorter time spans in the atmosphere than CO2, the SLCPs can cause serious changes in climate in that time, particularly in urban areas or in highly climate-sensitive zones such as the polar regions and major mountain ranges. The SLCPs − which include methane, black carbon or soot, and hydrofluorocarbons − are particularly prevalent in some of the world’s poorest regions.

Soot and fumes

Firewood, cow dung and other fuels, incompletely combusted on millions of household fires, give rise to high levels of SLCPs − as does the black soot and fumes belching from the exhaust pipes of hundreds of thousands of trucks and buses. The smoke and fumes originating from small industrial concerns, such as brick factories, also contain high levels of black carbon. This pollution is swept by the winds up onto high mountain ranges, falling on the snow and glaciers and darkening the surface. Losing its ability to reflect the sun’s heat, the surface warms and a process of melting is set in motion. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) − initiated by the governments of Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden and the US, and the United Nations Environment Programme, and also comprising private sector groups and environmental organisations − was formed three years ago with the aim of curtailing SLCP emissions. At a recent meeting in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, delegates were told that climate change was happening faster and in a dramatically more visible manner in the Earth’s cryosphere – the regions of ice and snow – than anywhere else on earth.

“Our work will contribute to the pathway of limiting global warming to 2˚C”

The consequences of increased melting in the Himalaya-Hindu Kush region are particularly serious. According to the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, the area’s mountains store nearly 10% of the world’s freshwater. And many millions of people across one of the planet’s most densely populated regions are dependent on mountain waters for agriculture and other purposes. The CCAC is launching a series of schemes to combat SLCPs, including giving funds to city authorities for soot-free bus fleets and programmes to encourage less polluting agricultural practices. “Our work will contribute to the pathway of limiting global warming to 2˚C, harness health, food and energy benefits, and spur sustainable development,” says Hanne Bjurstroem, Norway’s special envoy for climate change, and a co-chair of CCAC. The SLCPs are also a serious health hazard. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than four million people die prematurely each year as a result of household air pollution. The WHO estimates that 2.8 billion people cook and heat their homes by burning coal and biomass – wood, dung, crop wastes and other solid fuels – on open fires or basic stoves.

Cancer-causing

Fumes from these fires contain minute levels of toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide, nitrous and sulphur dioxides and formaldehyde. They often also contain particles of cancer-causing substances that can penetrate deep into the lungs. Women and children, who spend most time in the home, are particularly vulnerable. More than 50% of premature deaths among children under five around the world, the WHO says, are due to pneumonia caused by particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution. Solving the problem of SLCPs caused by household fires and other sources is not easy, but progress is being made in some areas. In Nepal, the government says it is aiming for big cuts in SLCPs through various programmes, including the mass introduction of improved cooking stoves. The goal, it says, is to make Nepal free of indoor pollution by 2017. – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

stux / Pixabay
Air & Marine

Big Seven European Airlines Lag on Reducing Sky-High Emissions: Report

June 13, 2022
68
Ars Electronica/flickr
Solar

Unique ‘Smartflower’ Microgrid to Power Saskatchewan High School

June 13, 2022
149
http://midwestenergynews.com/2013/10/24/as-pipeline-concerns-mount-a-renewed-focus-on-the-great-lakes-enbridge-mackinac-line-5/
Pipelines / Rail Transport

Line 5 Closure Brings Negligible Rise in Gas Prices, Enbridge Consultant Finds

June 10, 2022
200

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Jason Woodhead/Flickr

Trans Mountain Pipeline On Track to Lose $600 Million, Parliamentary Budget Officer Finds

June 24, 2022
288
Ben_Kerckx/Pixabay

Plastics Cited as ‘Fossil Industry’s Plan B’ as Guilbeault Announces Partial Ban

June 24, 2022
171
zephylwer0/pixabay

North American Steel, Aluminium Giants Lumber Toward Green Transition

June 24, 2022
147
Nemaska Lithium/Facebook

Critical Minerals, Hydrogen Lead Ottawa’s Low-Carbon Industry Strategy

June 24, 2022
79
/PxFul

Canadian Farmers Offer Ottawa a Roadmap to Cut Agriculture Emissions

June 24, 2022
83
Bruce Reeve/Flickr

Opinion: Ontario’s New ‘Carbon Tax’ Looks Like the One Doug Ford Fought

June 7, 2022
1.5k

Recent Posts

Erik Whalen/wikimedia commons

Yellowstone Park Reopens, But Flood Recovery Could Take Years, Cost Billions

June 24, 2022
60
TAFE SA TONSLEY/Flickr

Clean Energy Investment to Exceed $1.4T This Year, Still Falls Short of Climate Goals: IEA

June 24, 2022
80
Cjp24/Wikimedia Commons

UK Green Shift Won’t Repeat Job Destruction of Deindustrialization, Report Finds

June 24, 2022
29
Pavlofox/Pixabay

Millions Face Famine as Climate Disasters, Ukraine War Slash Food Supplies

June 24, 2022
38
Chris Lim/Wikimedia Commons

China Has 9 Times the Wind, Solar Potential It Needs for Carbon Neutrality

June 24, 2022
54
willenhallwench / Pixabay

PG&E Risks Greenwashing with Definition of ‘Scope 4’ Emissions

June 24, 2022
44
Next Post
An eighty-foot coal seam in the US: Fossil fuels should not get support

Prices fail to reflect fossil fuels' real costs

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}