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INTERNATIONAL CRYOSPHERE
CLIMATE INITIATIVE (ICCI)
www.iccinet.org
News Release
Slowing Rapid Cryosphere Warming by Cutting Air Pollution
New Report -- On Thin Ice: How Cutting Pollution Can Slow Warming and Save Lives
Stockholm, November 4, 2013 – Changes in the cryosphere – regions of snow and ice – are occurring
around the world as a result of climate change, but actions to address common pollution sources can help
lower the risks of these changes while benefitting health and development.
These are the dual messages of warning and promise from On Thin Ice: How Cutting Pollution Can Slow
Warming and Save Lives, which details the impacts of climate change in cryosphere regions around the
globe – the Arctic, Antarctica, Himalayas, Andes and East Africa – building on research since the
International Polar Year. The report, released today by the World Bank and International Cryosphere
Climate Initiative (ICCI), then goes on to explore which actions -- in addition to cuts in carbon dioxide
emissions -- might help slow these changes; through the efforts of an international team of modelers
focusing on traditional air pollution sources.
The report notes the reality of cryosphere warming today: twice the rate or more of the global average.
This rapid warming then increases the risk of other impacts, such as higher sea level rise, and release of
methane and CO2 from permafrost and near-coastal regions off Siberia. Loss of Arctic sea ice by the
middle of this century could speed warming further. These possibilities, and even more uncertain events
such as greater Greenland melt or the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, all are risks that increase as
temperatures in the cryosphere rise.
“The cryosphere needs deep cuts in CO2 – but it also is imperative to find means that can act more
quickly. Otherwise the human community is playing with fire – or more to the point, playing with the ice
on which all of us depend for resources and the stability of the global climate system,” said Pam Pearson,
Director of the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative (ICCI), which set in motion and
coordinated the new study. Over a year in the making, it involved an extensive review of cryosphere
research, and the work of an international team of modelers from NASA, the EC’s Joint Research Centre,
the University of Reading, Stockholm Environment Institute and Istanbul University, with support from the
World Bank and experts from cryosphere regions around the world.
The modeling shows that different kinds of pollution cuts benefit different cryosphere regions. Addressing
wood stoves, open field and forest burning and diesel will benefit the Arctic, while cookstoves and coal
stoves have a larger impact on the Himalayas. “The potential decrease in warming of the atmosphere over
the Himalayas is significant, which could slow melting of snow and glaciers that impact water and other
resources on which 1.3 billion people depend,” noted David Molden, Director General of the
International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal. The potential
reduction in warming energy or “radiative forcing” over the Himalayas could be reduced by 7.6W/m2
according to the modeling, with the average Arctic reduction about 1.7W/m2 (as a comparison, the global
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mean average is about 2.3W/m2 in the atmosphere today). Reductions from diesel and cookstove pollution
sources might even benefit Antarctica, especially the sensitive Antarctic Peninsula.
Health benefits proved just as compelling. According to the report, use of advanced cook-stoves – such as
those that are fan-assisted or use biogas – could prevent one million deaths annually from outdoor air
pollution alone; and with the improvement of air quality inside the home, benefits would be greater still.
“This report underscores the need to address clean cookstoves and fuels as a solution to a growing public
health crisis,” said Radha Muthiah, Executive Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
“The gender, economic and climate benefits of clean cooking solutions must compel us to greater action.”
The Global Burdens of Disease estimates that every year, 4 million people die from exposure to household
smoke from coosktoves.
Measures to address other pollution sources also provided strong health benefits in the modeling. Just a
50-percent drop in open field and forest burning could result in 190,000 fewer deaths globally every year.
Use of improved wood and coal stoves for heating could save 230,000 lives annually, many of these in
OECD nations as well as East Asia.
The modeling built on an earlier Assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme and World
Meteorological Organization. “This report is an important contribution to the World Bank's work on
development and climate,” said Rachel Kyte, Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World
Bank, which along with the Flora Family Foundation supported the study. “It clearly identifies the risks
that black carbon and methane pose to the poorest and most vulnerable, as well as the climate benefits of
early, scalable action irrespective of global agreements. Critically, it also provides solutions for clean
growth, and opportunities to help meet World Bank Group goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and
boosting shared prosperity.”
Cuts in pollution from sources that produce methane such as oil and gas, and coal production bring crop as
well as climate benefits. Together with diesel sources (which also impacts the ground-level ozone harmful
to crops), methane measure reductions could result in more than 30 million tons of additional yield in crops
such as rice, soy and wheat, especially in Southeast Asia and North America; and also avert 340,000
premature deaths.
Methane reductions also benefited the Arctic, and could result in slowing the rise in temperature there by a
full degree in some Arctic regions. Combined with black carbon reductions, it could lead to less loss of sea
ice and snow cover: up to 40% reduced loss of sea ice and 25% reduced loss of snow cover by midcentury. Much of these methane emissions come from front-end activities of fossil fuel exploitation.
“Our hope is that this study will raise the profile of the cryosphere as well as the urgency needed to
address climate change there, using both the tool of CO2 reductions, and these improvements in air
quality,” concluded Pearson. “It truly is a dual cryosphere and development imperative for action.”
Contacts:
ICCI-Europe: Svante Bodin, +46-722-350878, svante@iccinet.org
ICCI-Global: Pam Pearson, +1-802-488-0991, pam@iccinet.org
GACC: Sean Bartlett, +1-202-419-6401, sbartlett@cleancookstoves.org
ICIMOD: David Molden, +977-1-5003222, dmolden@icimod.org
World Bank: Robert Bisset, +1-202-458-5191, Cell: (202) 415-9646, rbisset@worldbank.org
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