3 September 2013: The World Bank has released a report, titled ‘Integration of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants in World Bank Activities,’ which highlights that the reduction of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP), including black carbon, methane and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), brings immediate benefits for health, agriculture and climate change mitigation.

Following a request of the G-8, the report was released on the occasion of the Ministerial High Level Assembly for The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC), which took place in Oslo, Norway, on 3 September 2013.

The report identifies ways for the World Bank to further reduce the emission of SLCPs through its projects. It provides an overview of ways the Bank’s investments are already reducing SLCPs and shows where potential exists for greater reduction. The SLCP-reducing activities addressed in the report include: bus and rail-based transport systems, which can reduce black carbon emissions and bring local public health co-benefits; solid waste collection and disposal methods that can reduce methane emissions; improved cookstoves and kilns that can reduce black carbon; and rice irrigation and wastewater management that can lower methane emissions and have global benefits to agricultural productivity and health.

The report indicates that over the six-year period of the review (FY2007–2012), 7.7% of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)/International Development Association (IDA) commitments (approximately US$18 billion) were on SLCP-relevant activities, and that going forward, the goal will be to transform as much of the SLCP-relevant activities as possible into SLCP-reducing activities. [Publication: Integration of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants in World Bank Activities] [World Bank Press Release] [Climate and Clear Air Coalition Website]