Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), also known as short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), are not always given the same importance as other climate forcers such as CO2, but reducing them is a necessary part of reaching global net zero.
Let’s look at what they are, how they’re different from long-lived climate pollutants, and why they matter. We’ll also touch on how to treat them in your measurement and reduction plans. If you need more in-depth advice in this area, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Before looking at short-lived climate forcers, let’s backtrack, because to understand SLCFs, you need to understand climate forcing itself.
What is climate forcing?
Climate forcing, or radiative forcing, is essentially an atmospheric imbalance between incoming solar energy, and outgoing infrared radiation (IR). This imbalance happens when energy can't dissipate after hitting the earth’s surfaces and is trapped inside the atmosphere.
Energy can be trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, which form a sort of blanket that the reflected solar energy can’t get through, meaning it remains in the atmosphere as trapped heat.
The earth does need to retain a certain amount of heat to support life, but when too many gases and other pollutants trap heat in this way, temperatures increase.
What are long-lived climate pollutants?
While all gases eventually degrade or are absorbed by the atmosphere, some have a much longer lifespan than others. Reducing and removing these long-lived gases are often the focus when looking for solutions to global warming. This is because their lifespan means that as we continue to emit, atmospheric levels rise over the years, with larger and larger climate-forcing impact.
Carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons are well-known LLCPs.
What are short-lived climate pollutants?
Short-lived climate forcers do not remain in the atmosphere for very long, so they don’t build up in the same way that long-lived climate pollutants do, but many of them have a much higher global warming potential while they are there, trapping a lot more energy in a short space of time than carbon dioxide.
Black carbon and methane are two examples of potent SLCPs.
How is the impact of different climate pollutants measured?
As you can imagine, it’s hard to measure all these different pollutants and their impacts. To make this easier, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lists the Global Warming Potentials (GWP) of each greenhouse gas over 100 years, which can be used to calculate the CO2e. You can read more about GWPs and CO2e in our methane and global warming blog.
Why short-lived climate forcers matter
If you consider their impact over 100 years, many SLCPs have much lower impact than long-lived climate pollutants like CO2. The issue is, we aren’t in a position to only consider the 100-year outlook. If something pushes global warming a lot in the short term, it could cause us to pass global warming tipping points before we have time to implement long term emissions reduction plans.
The IPCC recognises that achieving a 1.5 pathway needs to focus on all climate-forcing emissions, including SLCPs. Unfortunately, SLCPs are often overlooked in global agreements and mitigation pledges.
Another strong incentive to focus on SLCPs is their human impact: exposure to some SLCPs can result in severe health complications. For example, black carbon exposure greatly increases the risks of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
Short-term and long-term climate strategies
A robust climate strategy includes short-term and long-term outlooks. By focusing on quick wins through short-term climate pollutants, we can buy time for long-term strategies to reduce and remove long-lasting gases without reaching tipping points.
Accounting for SLCP in your emissions measurement
In the UK and Europe, reporting on your scope 1 emission is a requirement under mandatory disclosure programs such as SECR and CSRD. With the strong focus on natural gas and fuel within scope 1, many companies prioritise these first and foremost, putting less focus on leakage of SLCPs like methane or refrigerants.
Due to the short-term impact these pollutants have, we strongly encourage including them in your reporting as much as possible.
Accounting for SLCP in your emissions reduction strategy
Depending on your business, and especially if working in an industry that uses refrigeration, methane can be a key driver of emissions which should not be overlooked in both your measurement and reduction strategy.
If you have questions about SLCPs or about your measurements, our team is available to chat.
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