Air Pollution, Clean Energy and Climate Change

Anthropogenic climate change is a globally recognized threat multiplier, but decades of intergovernmental negotiations have failed to curb toxic levels of fossil fuel energy-related air pollution. This book highlights the air pollution crisis that emanates from the heavy reliance on polluting forms of energy and the urbanization of poverty in developing countries. It provides a framework for understanding why the broader sustainable development community needs to address the more neglected intersection between adverse climatic impacts and energy-related air pollution. Integrating clean air and climate mitigation measures that specifically include curbing short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon via innovative partnerships/modalities are seen as vital to clean energy and climate-responsive action.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 28 April 2022
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd

Anthropogenic climate change is a widely acknowledged threat multiplier that has garnered global attention. Despite decades of intergovernmental negotiations, efforts to curb toxic levels of fossil fuel energy-related air pollution, identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the world's largest single environmental health risk, have fallen short. The troubling realities about the morbidity and ill-health burdens associated with climate change, disproportionately borne by those who have contributed the least to per capita emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, lie openly before us. Failure to acknowledge the interconnectedness between air pollution, lack of access to clean energy, and climate adversities represents a collective failure of the United Nations' ambitious and universally agreed-upon 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDA), which pledged to leave no one behind.

This book serves as a focal point for highlighting the air pollution crisis that arises from the heavy reliance on polluting forms of energy and the urbanization of poverty in developing countries. It provides a comprehensive framework for understanding why the broader sustainable development community must address the often neglected intersection between adverse climatic impacts and energy-related air pollution, which disproportionately affects the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly young children, women, and the elderly.

The book emphasizes the importance of breaking down persistent global silos and goals related to sustainable energy for all and climate change, as reflected in the United Nations' 2030 SDA and the 2015 Paris Agreement. Integrating clean air and climate mitigation measures, including the reduction of short-lived climate pollutants such as black carbon through innovative partnerships and modalities, is considered vital to achieving clean energy and climate resilience.

Weight: 690g
Dimension: 175 x 251 x 21 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781119771586