Welcome to Sustainability-Tracking

Air pollution and climate change are linked in several ways. As a consequence they may both be beneficially addressed by common research.

Immediate investments in low-carbon and carbon-free energy technologies is clearly the long term solution (> 100 years)  for both air pollution and climate, but the short term implications (< 30 years), for climate in particular, still need to be carefully examined. For example, the present focus of air pollution policy on reducing the total mass concentration of aerosols (PM₁₀, PM_2.5), while good for human health, might indeed lead to warming.

An emerging issue is the potential for mitigating short-term global warming by reducing specific shorter lived warming agents such as, black carbon, tropospheric ozone and methane.

For that purpose, improving the understanding of the impact of air pollutants on both climate and human health represents a precious support for environmental policies.

World-wide reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases remains the top priority to address climate change.

Despite a reduction in some harmful emissions, air quality continues to be a major concern without significant improvements in many areas throughout Europe. Since air pollution from energy and transport are well understood, the scientific focus will shift towards emissions from agriculture and land use in general.