Scientific achievements

Among the highlights of MAG research in 2014 are:

• A new methodology to determine the sources of population exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in urban areas was finalized and published. In addition to local traffic sources (diesel vehicles), solid fuel combustion in households (coal, biomass), open biomass burning, and agricultural ammonia emissions that steer the formation of secondary inorganic aerosols have emerged as key sectors that have been overlooked in the past. By identifying a wide range of contributors in many different sectors, the new insights open up innovative win-win policy interventions with multiple co-benefits on other policy objectives, for example, access to clean energy, nitrogen pollution, biodiversity, and near-term climate change.

• New methodology was implemented for more than 200 European cities, and used for policy analyses for the ongoing revision of the Clean Air Policy of the European Union.
• Review and validation of the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) input data through bilateral consultations with national experts from all 28 member states of the European Union.
• Enhanced analyses of the interactions between air quality policies and the mitigation of long-lived greenhouse gases (for the European Parliament), as well as the interplay between ambitious decarbonization strategies and the associated evolution of the emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
• Scientific networking and policy advice.
  
  

A new understanding of the sources of pollution from particulate matter in cities

A new methodology to determine the sources of population exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in urban areas was finalized and published. More

Interactions between emission controls of air pollutants, long-lived greenhouse gases and short-lived climate pollutants

In 2014 the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program continued the analyses of the mitigation potentials and co-benefits of specific emission control options. More

Policy interventions of future emissions

In 2014 the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program completed a new generation of projections of global future air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions that outline the impacts of future policy decisions. More

Last edited: 30 March 2015