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Atmosphere
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One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance
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One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 10517

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Kathleen Mar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), 14467 Potsdam, Germany
Interests: policymaking on climate and air quality; integrative approaches; the nexus of climate, air quality and health; planetary health; atmospheric chemistry; science communication
Dr. Charlotte Unger

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, 14467 Potsdam, Germany
Interests: international and national climate policy and politics; inter- and transnational cooperation; market-based climate policy instruments, e.g., emissions trading
Dr. Eric Zusman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Global Environmental Studies (IGES), Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0115, Japan
Interests: co-benefits; atmospheric governance; Sustainable Development Goals; sustainability transitions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Because climate change affects nearly all aspects of society, climate policies would arguably be stronger if they accounted for relationships with other sectoral policies. Similarly, energy, economic, social and other sectoral policies would be more robust if they factored in relationships with climate change. The potential gains from linking climate and other sectoral policies are well-recognized in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) processes, where there is clear emphasis on more integrated approaches to decision making. The case for integration is especially persuasive when it comes to climate change and air pollution policy: Not only are the issues two of the most critical health and sustainability challenges, greenhouse gases and air pollutants often come from the same emission sources and interact with each other in the atmosphere. To date, however, policies and governance arrangements reflecting this have lagged behind.

This Special Issue invites contributions that address the integration of air quality and climate change policy and governance. We especially encourage submission of articles that synthesize interdisciplinary knowledge and that can be understood by a wide range of academic disciplines: for example, social or natural science-oriented papers that include a strong policy perspective. Both research articles and review articles are welcome.

Contributions to this this Special Issue should address one (or both) of these two overarching areas.

I.  The international political setting: institutional frameworks, politics and actors

Who tackles air quality and climate change? How have institutional frameworks, such as the UNFCCC, the Montreal Protocol and the SDGs, shaped the governance of climate change and air quality and how do they overlap? What broader tendencies and developments can be observed for the integration of air quality and climate change policies?

II.   Concrete policy approaches: tools and best practices

From NDCs to city-level climate action plans, how have climate change and air quality been taken into account in an integrated manner? What can we learn from these experiences? How have tools for calculating co-benefits been applied, and what was their uptake among policy makers? Here, case studies from specific contexts (e.g., national, subnational, or other) are welcome and should be situated into a larger political context and/or discuss their relevance for a broader scientific community.

Dr. Kathleen Mar
Dr. Charlotte Unger
Dr. Eric Zusman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Climate policy
  • Air pollution
  • Short-lived climate pollutants
  • Governance
  • UNFCCC
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
  • Integrated approaches
  • Case studies
  • Interlinkages
  • Science-policy interface

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 522 KiB  
Article
One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance
by Eric Zusman, Charlotte Unger, Nathan Borgford-Parnell and Kathleen A. Mar
Atmosphere 2021, 12(12), 1570; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12121570 - 26 Nov 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3626
Abstract
Few challenges pose a greater threat to a healthy planet and people than air pollution and climate change. Over the past three decades, research has demonstrated that integrated solutions to air pollution and climate change can yield co-benefits that support cost-effective, coherent policies. [...] Read more.
Few challenges pose a greater threat to a healthy planet and people than air pollution and climate change. Over the past three decades, research has demonstrated that integrated solutions to air pollution and climate change can yield co-benefits that support cost-effective, coherent policies. However, research on co-benefits has yet to generate policy responses consistent with this promise. This paper argues that realizing this potential requires more rigorous research on how governance affects the opportunities and incentives to align the interests of government agencies, scientists, and other stakeholders at multiple levels. The article proposes a “One Atmosphere approach” consisting of three building blocks to strengthen that alignment: (1) continually incorporating and strategically timing the introduction of integrated visions; (2) reforming governance arrangements to encourage interagency collaboration and multi-stakeholder cooperation; and (3) supporting integrated visions and institutional cooperation with standardized metrics and assessment methods. This article is also the introduction to the Special Issue ‘One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance’, aimed at fostering the multidisciplinary dialogue needed for more integrated air pollution and climate change policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance)
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15 pages, 514 KiB  
Article
Learning by Doing: Co-Benefits Drive National Plans for Climate and Air Quality Governance
by Clara Mewes and Charlotte Unger
Atmosphere 2021, 12(9), 1184; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12091184 - 14 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2558
Abstract
What drives countries to realize more integrated policymaking? The co-benefits concept highlights the win–win situations that can arise if one policy measure addresses two or more policy goals, e.g., air quality and health benefits resulting from a climate policy. Scholars have suggested that [...] Read more.
What drives countries to realize more integrated policymaking? The co-benefits concept highlights the win–win situations that can arise if one policy measure addresses two or more policy goals, e.g., air quality and health benefits resulting from a climate policy. Scholars have suggested that decision makers, if confronted with the evidence of co-benefits, would update their beliefs and adopt stronger or more ambitious climate policies. In other words, a learning process takes place. This paper looks at the policy processes in two countries, Mexico and Nigeria, as part of the Supporting National Action and Planning (SNAP) initiative under the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC). The SNAP initiative supports governments with policymaking and implementation for a reduction in short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). This paper seeks to reveal how learning processes and their outcomes are influenced by co-benefits as a specific type of information. Looking at an example of how the co-benefits concept is applied in political practice offers valuable insights into how learning is part of the policymaking process and can shape its outcomes, such as national (climate) action plans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance)
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Review

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20 pages, 1380 KiB  
Review
Envisioning an Integrated Assessment System and Observation Network for the North Atlantic Ocean
by Liz Coleman, Frank M. Mc Govern, Jurgita Ovadnevaite, Darius Ceburnis, Thaize Baroni, Leonard Barrie and Colin D. O’Dowd
Atmosphere 2021, 12(8), 955; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12080955 - 24 Jul 2021
Viewed by 3247
Abstract
The atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean is highly impacted by human activities on the surrounding four major continents. Globally, human activity creates significant burdens for the sustainability of key Earth systems, pressuring the planetary boundaries of environmental sustainability. Here, we propose a science-based [...] Read more.
The atmosphere over the Atlantic Ocean is highly impacted by human activities on the surrounding four major continents. Globally, human activity creates significant burdens for the sustainability of key Earth systems, pressuring the planetary boundaries of environmental sustainability. Here, we propose a science-based integrated approach addressing linked science and policy challenges in the North Atlantic. There is a unique combination of ongoing anthropogenic changes occurring in the coupled atmosphere–ocean environment of the region related to climate, air and water quality, the biosphere and cryosphere. This is matched by a unique potential for the societies that surround the North Atlantic to systematically address these challenges in a dynamic and responsive manner. Three key linked science-policy challenges to be addressed as part of this proposed integrated regional approach are: (1) understanding physical and dynamic changes, (2) sustaining human and ecosystem health and (3) reducing existing knowledge gaps on the carbon budget and the Earth’s energy balance. We propose a North Atlantic multidisciplinary scientific assessment system and observation network to address these thematic challenges. We propose to build on and link with the existing research activities and observational networks and infrastructures to specifically address the key North Atlantic challenges that encompass a range of policy areas. This will strengthen the institutional response to weather, climate, environmental and ecological threats and reduce societal risk. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue One Atmosphere: Integrating Air Pollution and Climate Policy and Governance)
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