May 28, 2015

expert reaction to new report on greenhouse gas emissions

The Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford has published a report into the effects of short-lived climate pollutants such as methane, reporting that reducing their levels would have a mitigating effect on climate change but that this effect would be lower than if carbon dioxide emissions were reduced.

Prof. Piers Forster, Professor of Climate Change at the University of Leeds, said:

“Could we reduce methane and soot emissions to help climate? This report finds that there are indeed climate benefits from cutting soot and methane but it finds that any benefit would be short-lived unless carbon dioxide emissions are also addressed. I still think policies to reduce such short-lived compounds help: they could bring us 0.5 C less warming that we might otherwise expect – and could save hundreds of thousands of lives through reduced air pollution. As both carbon dioxide and these short-lived compounds can be considered pollutants we should cut both.”

‘Short-Lived Promise? The Science and Policy of Cumulative and Short-Lived Climate Pollutants’ by Prof Myles Allen, published by the Oxford Martin School on Thursday 28^th May 2015. 

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/?s=greenhouse%20gas%20emissions&cat

Declared interests

Prof. Forster was involved in the initial discussions around this report but is not one of the authors and has no other interests to declare.