Bridging Research and Policy on Short-Lived Climate

Asia could accrue significant air quality, public health, and climate co-benefits from mitigating short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as black carbon and tropospheric ozone (O3). Realizing these co-benefits will require bridging a research-policy divide. This policy brief outlines four pragmatic steps to help narrow that divide in Asia. A conventional co-benefits approach often involves reducing GHGs in parallel with pollutant species that cool the atmosphere. The removal of cooling pollutants can unmask warming; mitigating SLCPs such as black carbon can compensate for the unmasked warming. A co-benefits strategy focusing on SLCPs can therefore complement one focused on GHGs. Researchers need to raise awareness of these complementarities among Asia’s policymakers. Concentrating on the co-benefits from clean cookstoves would be a good starting point for awareness raising efforts in Asia. Clean cookstoves offer the single greatest climate change mitigation and air pollution abatement potential in Asia. However, a disregard for local ownership, community acceptance, and other on-the-ground intangibles has often blunted the performance of improved cookstove programs. Enhanced South-South sharing of experiential knowledge between community leaders, stove designers, gender specialists, and development practitioners could further boost the effectiveness of clean cookstov