8 November 2012: UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark has announced that UNDP has joined the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The Coalition is a partnership among governments, NGOs and international organizations that aims to tackle the challenges posed by short-lived climate pollutants, such as black carbon, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and methane, at a global scale.

UNDP underscores that reducing HFCs is a cost-effective approach to achieve energy efficiency, lower climate footprints and protect human health. The Coalition is expected to support various HFC-related initiatives and supplement the funding from the Montreal Protocol’s Multilateral Fund.

UNDP will contribute to the Coalition’s work by reducing the negative impacts of HFCs on climate. UNDP is implementing projects that showcase energy-efficient technologies with low global warming potential in the air conditioning, foam and refrigeration sectors in India, Indonesia and Malaysia as part of a bi-lateral programme with the US Department of State.

Clark welcomed the opportunity to contribute to the Coalition’s work, underscoring its potential to help facilitate sustainable human development. She underlined that “all countries can act to head off the worst impacts of climate change while also generating new industries, jobs, more sustainable ways of living” and laying the foundations for a more stable, peaceful world.

The Coalition represents the first global effort to consider these short-lived climate pollutants as a collective, urgent challenge. It aims to address short-lived pollutants by: raising awareness of their impacts and mitigation strategies; developing and enhancing national and regional actions, enhancing capacity and mobilizing support; promoting and showcasing best practices; and improving scientific understanding of the impacts of these pollutants and mitigation strategies.

The Coalition currently has 36 members, including Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, the US, the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Climate Works Foundation and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP hosts the Coalition Secretariat. [UNDP Press Release] [Coalition Website]