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In this op-ed originally published by the Clean Air Journal, researchers from SEI York and SEI Africa highlight a significant boost to air quality and sustainable development in Africa from the 2024 UNEA 6 Resolution on Air Quality. The resolution acknowledges the Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa with specific actions.
In a major boost to air quality and sustainable development in Africa, a new UNEA-6 Resolution on Air Quality has acknowledged the Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa.
The new development came in 2023, when the Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa (UNEP, 2023), was published by a partnership of the African Union, Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the United Nations Environment Programme. The assessment was developed with contributions from over 100 authors across Africa, in a process supported by the Stockholm Environment Institute (Kaudia et al. 2022). The Assessment recommended for an Africa Clean Air Program (ACAP) to provide a key rallying point for African multilateral institutions, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States, and development partners to work collaboratively to implement the recommendations from the assessment and deliver multiple benefits of clean air for Africa.
The Assessment recommends a package of 37 measures across five key development areas: transport, residential energy, energy generation and industry, agriculture, and waste management (Figure 1). Seventeen of these 37 measures focus on reducing short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) such as methane, black carbon and hydrofluorocarbons. Besides meeting national development goals, implementing these measures can deliver substantial clean air, regional climate and development benefits for Africa by 2030 and 2063, in line with the SDGs and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 – the Africa We Want respectively.
The African Assessment clearly demonstrated that action that is both integrated across climate and clean air objectives and coordinated across the five key sectors can potentially deliver:
Figure 1: Examples of the 37 measures across five key development areas: energy generation and industry, residential energy, agriculture, transport and waste management, recommended by the Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa
The sixth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6), through its ‘resolution on promoting regional cooperation on air pollution to improve air quality globally (UNEP 2024)‘ has now set the scene for accelerating delivery of the Africa Clean Air Program as part of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. The Resolution ‘Encourages member states to accelerate efforts to implement relevant provisions of Environment Assembly resolution 3/8 on preventing and reducing air pollution to improve air quality globally, including developing national air quality programmes and setting national ambient air quality standards, bearing in mind the most recent air quality guidelines of the World Health Organization, as appropriate in their national circumstances’.
The Integrated Assessment on Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa (UNEP, 2023) has outlined how this can be achieved while simultaneously delivering clean air, regional climate and development benefits in Africa. The UNEA-6 air quality resolution acknowledges ‘the progress achieved by existing bodies and initiatives that facilitate cooperation on in-country and transboundary air pollution, including’ inter alia the ‘Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change for Sustainable Development in Africa and its proposed Africa Clean Air Program’.
The 37 African Assessment measures resonate particularly well with the theme of the UNEA-6 discussions, i.e. ‘inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution,’ and actions in the following areas:
The links between the benefits of the Africa Assessment’s mitigation measures and the aims of UNEA resolutions are clear and include improving air quality, crop yields, animal welfare, sustainable nitrogen management (including circularity of livestock manure), waste management and increased renewable energy, sustainable mobility, and residential energy options.
The Africa Assessment shows how coordinated action from local/city scales, through sub-national, to national, regional, and continental scales is necessary for achieving national and international targets for air quality, climate change and sustainable development. For example, the importance of the national scale is demonstrated by several countries in Africa that have already included actions related to the Assessment’s measures in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, although often without reference to specific measures or targets. By demonstrating how the 37 measures deliver against a range of policy objectives and showing that all of these proposed measures are technologically proven and cost-effective, as well as implemented already somewhere on the continent, the case can be made for considering their inclusion into the reviews of the NDCs that are due for submission in 2025. Such inclusion can unlock climate finance to implement these solutions at scale. Using such approaches, the African Assessment shows that action that is both integrated across climate and clean air objectives and coordinated action across multiple sectors can potentially deliver substantial development benefits. The time to act is now.
Charles Sebukeera, UNEP Regional Office for Africa
John Mumbo, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)
Selelah Okoth, National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)
Thomas Moore Ogola, UNEP Regional Office for Africa
Seraphine Haeussling, Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat, Paris, France
This article was originally published by the Clean Air Journal on 25 June 2024 and reproduced under a Creative Commons license.
Project / A scientifically robust and policy-relevant framework to identify and assess priority measures that maximize the multiple-benefits for air quality and climate.
Tool / The Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) is a powerful, versatile system for energy planning and climate change mitigation assessment.
Project / Regional networks and international organisations developing policies and programmes protecting public health and the environment from atmospheric pollution.
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Past event / At this round table, panelists will present the scope and activities of the Integrated Assessment of Air Pollution and Climate Change in Africa.
Feature / Scientists developed an integrated assessment of air pollution and climate change providing a robust scientific basis for action towards clean air in Africa.
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