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Cut Super-Pollutants Now!

July 8, 2021 @ 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

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A book seminar co-sponsored by the Social and Environmental Thematic Group and the Economics Thematic Group

Speaker: Alan S. Miller

Discussant: John Redwood, former Director LCSES and co-Chair Social & Environmental TG

Summary:
The session will consist of a book presentation by one of the co-authors of a recent book—Cut Super-Pollutants Now! The Ozone Treaty’s Urgent Lessons for Speeding Up Climate Action by Alan S. Miller, Durwood Zaelke and Stephen O. Andersen, published by Changemakers Publications in April 2021. Alan Miller will elaborate the book’s key messages and highlight the urgency and opportunity of slowing global warming by controlling four climate super pollutants: (1) The greatest short-term threat from climate change is the potential to trigger feedbacks and tipping points such as the release of enormous quantities of greenhouse gases from melting permafrost with irreversible and catastrophic consequences. (2) Measures to reduce CO2 emissions in coming decades – the climate marathon – are essential but will not slow warming for several decades; reducing four climate super pollutants with short relatively short atmospheric lifetimes, HFCs, methane, black carbon, and tropospheric ozone, is key to reducing the likelihood of catastrophic warming in the next few decades. (3) Some significant measures for reducing the climate super pollutants are already underway, notably the reduction of HFCs — widely used as refrigerants — thanks to the Kigali Amendment, an international agreement adopted in 2016 and now supported by President Biden. (4) The 1987 Montreal Protocol (MP), an international agreement to protect the ozone layer, has been universally adopted with great success and offers numerous lessons for the identification and implementation of measures to address climate change. (5) A key feature of the MP was a sectoral approach allowing industry experts to participate in defining practical solutions applicable to the many diverse uses of ozone depleting substances. (6) The four climate super pollutants are quite distinct and there are no simple or universal alternatives; much of what is required, including new international agreements, will need to come from governments, but individuals can also contribute in many ways.

About the Speaker:
Alan Miller retired from the IFC Climate Business Department at the end of 2013 after 16 years working on climate change finance and policy in the World Bank Group, six years in the Global Environment Facility Secretariat and 10 years in the IFC. He was originally trained as a lawyer and began working on ozone depletion and other global environmental issues in the late 1970s. He has taught at 10 universities in four disciplines, most recently as an adjunct at the American University Kogod School of Business and University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

 

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Join by Webex
Meeting number: 172 091 9312
Password: 1818Society

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1-650-479-3207 Call-in number (US/Canada)
Access code: 172 091 9312
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Details

Date:
July 8, 2021
Time:
11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Venue

WebEx & MC 10-300

Organizers

1818 Society – Social & Environment TG
1818 Society Econimics Thematic Group