College of Engineering

Name of Student: Karl Jezreel T. Camarao Year/Section : BSMEC4-A

Subject: Environmental Science
ASSIGNMENT NO. 3 2ND SEMESTER

1. In the near Future year 3000. Depicts the pollution severity on planet earth. Is the severity is still
adoptable to human health for existence?
Climate and Clean Air Coalition leaders: We must significantly reduce short-lived climate
pollutants by 2030 Pixabay / 23 Sep 2019 New York, September 22, 2019 – A meeting of
ministers and high-level representatives of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) today
agreed to accelerate efforts to significantly reduce short-lived climate pollutants by the end of
the next decade in order to put the world on a “pathway that rapidly reduces warming in the
near term and maximizes development, health, environmental, and food security benefits”.
These efforts, they noted, must be complementary to aggressive carbon dioxide mitigation and
a transition to a zero-carbon economy by mid-century. Meeting a day before the United Nations
Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, the Coalition’s High-Level Assembly put forward a
2030 Vision Statement that aims to ensure the earth’s atmosphere continues to enable people
and the planet to thrive by limiting warming to 1.5˚ Celsius and drastically reducing air pollution.
In a message to the Assembly, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö reiterated the urgency required:
“Climate change impacts the Arctic faster than any other region in the world. Reducing black
carbon emissions is the most immediate way to limit further damage. As a partner of the
Climate and Clean Air Coalition Finland is committed to this work on a global scale. Because this
is not just a regional emergency. If we lose the Arctic, we lose the globe.” Short-lived climate
pollutants like methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) – also known as super
pollutants – are many times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet but
because they are short-lived in the atmosphere, preventing emissions can rapidly reduce the
rate 4/1/22, 8:43 AM Climate and Clean Air Coalition leaders: We must significantly reduce
short-lived climate pollutants by 2030
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/climate-and-clean-air-coalition-leaders-
we-must-significantly-reduce 2/6 of warming. Many are also dangerous air pollutants and
reductions will benefit human health and ecosystems. Miguel Arias Cañete, the European
Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, reminded delegates that mitigation efforts must
be urgently stepped up across the entire global energy sector, and called on countries to work
with the Coalition to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas production. “We need a swift
transition to a low-carbon and a more resource efficient economy to meet these goals. This also
requires more action on short-lived climate pollutants,” he said. “Given the scale of the
challenge, the European Commission is exploring further ways to better measure and report
methane emissions across all hydrocarbon industries and reduce methane emissions from
energy production and use. There is still a significant potential to reduce emissions with low
costs.” The Coalition’s goal is to reduce short-lived climate pollutants beyond the
recommendations made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its special
report Global Warming of 1.5˚C. According to the report, there need to be considerable cuts in
emissions of black carbon (35 per cent by 2030), methane (37 per cent by 2030) and HFCs (70
per cent to 80 per cent by 2050) if we are to keep warming below 1.5˚C. The control measures
that the CCAC is working on can deliver all recommended methane mitigation, and substantially
more with new research for agricultural methane, as well as a 60 per cent reduction in black
carbon emissions by 2030 – with up to 80 per cent possible – a 90 per cent reduction in HFC
emissions by 2050, and greater energy efficiency in the cooling sector. Increasing action on
short-lived climate pollutants can avoid an estimated 2.4 million premature deaths from
outdoor air pollution annually by 2030, prevent as much as 52 million tonnes of crop losses per
year, and slow the increase in global warming by as much as 0.6°C by 2050. It can also prevent
the climate tipping points that can exacerbate long-term climate impacts and make adapting to
climate change harder, especially for the poor and most vulnerable. Inger Andersen, Executive
Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which hosts the CCAC’s
Secretariat, said the Coalition was tackling two of the world’s most serious threats – air pollution
and the climate crisis – at the same time. 4/1/22, 8:43 AM Climate and Clean Air Coalition
leaders: We must significantly reduce short-lived climate pollutants by 2030
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/climate-and-clean-air-coalition-leaders-
we-must-significantly-reduce 3/6 “We need to urgently tackle climate change and keep
temperatures from exceeding dangerous thresholds. Reducing short-lived climate pollutants is
an essential ingredient of our strategy,” she said. “Polluted air is killing millions of people around
the globe prematurely and severely impacting their quality of life. The CCAC is addressing these
two issues together. Action on either front contributes to the goals of the other.” The benefits of
integrating efforts on climate change and air quality by taking a whole-of-government approach
was reiterated by Xie Zhenhua, China’s Special Representative for Climate Change, as he
launched a new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Tsinghua
University and the CCAC called Synergizing Action on the Environment and Climate Change. The
report shows how policies that address both air pollution and climate change can effectively
rally national, local and societal support for a low-carbon climate strategy because people can
see immediate benefits to air quality, urban infrastructure and clean energy development. “By
killing multiple birds with one stone, co-governance of the climate, environment and
development is cost-effective and achieves greater economic, social, environmental and climate
benefits. It works in China, and I am sure it will work in other countries,” Mr. Xie said. As the
world warms, demand for refrigeration and cooling will soar. The Coalition launched its Efficient
Cooling Initiative this year to ensure that as the world phases down HFCs that replacement
cooling technology is also highly energy efficient. Shinjiro Koizumi, Japan’s Minister of the
Environment said, Japan was committed to not just reducing the production of HFCs but was
also investing heavily in helping countries recover HFCs from discarded cooling equipment. New
Zealand called on countries to spur action by incorporating ambitious and directed inclusion of
agriculture and food systems in enhanced nationally determined contributions (NDCs), ideally by
2020. Agriculture is one of the largest manmade sources of methane; changes to the global
agriculture and food system are necessary if we are to address climate change, eliminate hunger
and halt biodiversity loss. 4/1/22, 8:43 AM Climate and Clean Air Coalition leaders: We must
significantly reduce short-lived climate pollutants by 2030 https://www.unep.org/news-and-
stories/press-release/climate-and-clean-air-coalition-leaders-we-must-significantly-reduce 4/6
Aupito William Sio, New Zealand’s Minister for Pacific Peoples, said: “We need to achieve the
needed level of transformation in ways that support small-scale farmers, improve the
productivity of farms, build resilience, and significantly reduce emissions, particularly of
methane and black carbon, across the entire agricultural system. There needs to be a much
greater level of targeted investment in the sector, I urge you all to consider how we can make
this happen.” Oil and gas production and distribution is another large source of methane and
black carbon – a climate problem that can be solved this decade. Fred Krupp, President of the
Environmental Defense Fund, called on gas producing and consuming countries to commit to
action and reduction targets of 45 per cent by 2025 and 60 per cent to 75 per cent by 2030, or
to a near-zero methane intensity target for new developments. “These targets are realistic and
achievable, especially in a sector where technology and financing are largely available, and
innovation supports even larger reductions,” Mr. Krupp said. “Every oil and gas producing and
consuming country can act and benefit. Countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions need to
become explicit about oil and gas methane emissions.” Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of Total, said:
“We cannot do this alone. Involvement of government is essential to send the appropriate
regulatory and economic signals to all concerned players. Strong and long-term policy support
and regulations are critical to enable the oil and gas industry to invest in technologies and
solutions.” Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister, Isabella Lövin, introduced the Coalition’s Vision
2030, saying that the contributions of all countries “are key to us reaching our climate and other
sustainable development targets”. By adopting its Vision 2030 the Coalition acknowledges that
its mission must be completed in the 10 years in order to keep warming to 1.5˚C and protect
people and ecosystems from air pollution. Closing the meeting, Carolina Schmidt, Chile’s
Minister of Environment and COP25 President Designate, said that the science shows that the
world needs to work on both non-carbon pollutants and greenhouse gases to ensure the world
prevents climate change. 4/1/22, 8:43 AM Climate and Clean Air Coalition leaders: We must
significantly reduce short-lived climate pollutants by 2030 https://www.unep.org/news-and-
stories/press-release/climate-and-clean-air-coalition-leaders-we-must-significantly-reduce 5/6
“We must people first when it comes to climate change. Climate action is not about cost it is
about opportunities to make a better life. In Chile we know there is a strong link between air
pollution and climate action. Santiago currently has the second largest fleet of electric buses in
the world after China and people are celebrating this by choosing electric buses over all other
transport systems,” Ms. Schmidt said. “We wait for all of you in Chile because now it is time for
action.”
(https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/climate-and-clean-air-coalition-leaders-
we-must-significantly-reduce)