Of particular significance will be a speech slated to be delivered by Norway’s state oil giant Statoil.

“We hope that Statoil’s speech today will be the beginning of a more open and transparent cooperation between the oil industry and NGOs,” Bellona President Frederic Hauge said. 

The topic for today’s meeting at Oslo Plaza is how the world’s emissions of short-lived climate pollutants can be reduced.

Cutting these emissions is the main goal for Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). Bellona is a member of CCAC – together with about 70 NGOs and 50 states. Bellona has been invited to speak at the meeting on behalf of the international NGO community. 

“This coalition is a trust-building supplement to the UN Climate negotiations,” Hauge said. 

The ministerial meeting, in Hauge’s estimation, creates a favorable atmosphere for achieving reduced emissions of short lived greenhouse gasses.

“We have focused on emissions from the buring of agriculture waste in Russia. However, we also want to cut emissions of methane and soot from the oil industry,” Hauge said.

“Bellona is eager to see an oil and gas initiative getting started under CCAC, and we will certainly contribute to its success,” Hauge added.

His hope is that Statoil’s presentation at today’s meeting will be the beginning of a more open cooperation between civil society and the oil and gas industry.

General information on CCAC

Fast action to reduce short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) that “live” from days up to a couple of decades in the atmosphere, has the potential to prevent millions of premature deaths each year, avoid annual crop losses of some of the world’s staple crops and slow down the warming expected by 2050 by as much as half a degree.

The CCAC is a voluntary partnership uniting governments, intergovernmental organizations, civil society and the private sector in the first global effort to treat short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) as a collective challenge.

Launched in February 2012, the Coalition has grown to 66 partners, including 32 countries, the European Commission and 33 non-state organizations. CCAC partners have launched major initiatives aimed to scale-up activities on the ground to spark significant emission reductions of SLCPs.

The Ministerial High Level Assembly for The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants is being held in Oslo, today.

Participation is by special invitation only. The High Level Assembly will bring together Ministers and heads of CCAC partner institutions to direct the Coalition’s work in significantly bolstering financing for SLCP mitigation and better mainstreaming the SLCP agenda into the health community and its key institutions. The High Level Assembly will also focus the spotlight on the latest science on SLCPs and the potential health, food security and climate benefits of their reductions to help inform transformational national decisions and global actions through the CCAC and beyond. 

Partners in the Coalition (see list of partners below)

The Coalition is government-led and country partners play a central role in deciding on, and supporting, the Coalition’s activities. By joining the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants, country partners have committed to mitigating short-lived climate pollutants in their own countries, helping others take similar actions, and to actively participating in the work of the Coalition.

Partners: 

Countries  

    Australia

    Bangladesh

    Benin

    Canada

    Central African Republic

    Chile

    Colombia

    Cote d’Ivoire

    Denmark

    Dominican Republic

    Ethiopia

    Finland

    France

    Germany

    Ghana

    Ireland

    Israel

    Italy

    Japan

    Jordan

    Mexico

    Netherlands

    New Zealand

    Nigeria

    Norway

    Peru

    Poland

    Republic of Korea

    Republic of Maldives

    Sweden

    Switzerland

    United Kingdom

    United States of America

    The European Commission

Organizations

    Bellona Foundation

    Caucasus Environmental NGO Network

    Center for Clean Air Policy

    Center for Human Rights and Environment

    Clean Air Initiative for Asian Cities, Inc.

    Clean Air Institute

    Clean Air Task Force

    Climate Market Investment Association (CMIA)

    ClimateWorks Foundation

    Earthjustice

    Environmental Defense Fund

    Environmental Investigation Agency

    EvK2CNR Committee

    Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

    Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies

    Institute for Global Environmental Strategies

    Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development

    International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

    International Climate Change Partnership (ICCP)

    International Council on Clean Transportation

    International Cryosphere Climate Initiative

    International Institute for Sustainable Development

    International Solid Waste Association (ISWA)

    International Union of Air Pollution Prevention and Environmental Protection Associations (IUAPPA)

    Molina Center for Strategic Studies in Energy and the Environment

    Natural Resources Defense Council

    Regional Environmental Center

    Stockholm Environment Institute

    Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation (Swisscontact)

    United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

    United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

    United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

    World Bank

For more information, see: http://www.unep.org/newsletters/ccac/2013_06.html