Cut soot, save lives and cool the globe

An international team of scientists says that governments can significantly reduce global warming, and prevent millions of premature deaths, by targeting emissions of methane and soot. In a new study published in the journal Science, the researchers say simple strategies that target those emissions and use existing technologies could shave nearly 1 degree Fahrenheit off the warming projected by mid-century.

And with international efforts to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, the main cause of climate change, largely stalled, it represents a cheaper and more attainable approach. Strategies to reduce methane emissions include improving methods of capturing gas from mines and oil- and gas-producing facilities and reducing leaks from pipelines and landfills; global levels of soot, or black carbon, can be cut by requiring more efficient filters for diesel vehicles, developing cleaner-burning cook stoves and imposing bans on burning agricultural land.

Such measures would prevent 700,000 to 4.7 million air pollution-related deaths per year, the study says. “Ultimately, we have to deal with CO2, but in the short term, dealing with these pollutants is more doable, and it brings fast benefits,” said Drew Shindell, the lead author and researcher at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University’s Earth Institute.

In developing and developed nations, burning wastes also adds to the soot. Particularly dry garbage. This will take time to change.