The United States (US) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the initiative yesterday. An initial $15 million (about €11 million) has been committed to get the coalition up and running, $12 million (about €8.8 million) of which coming from the US and $3 million (about €2.2 million) from Canada. In contrast, however, ozone measurements have been cut back at several Canadian monitoring stations since August 2011 as budgetary cuts start biting in Canada. Sweden is also expected to contribute additional funding, however the amount has yet to be determined.

The initiative will seek to realise concrete benefits on climate, health, food and energy resulting from reducing the short-lived climate pollutants that together account for approximately one-third of current global warming.

Efforts of the new coalition will complement and not replace global action to reduce carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, through instigating new actions but also reinforcing work under existing efforts such as the Arctic Council, the Montreal Protocol, and the Global Methane Initiative (GMI) etc.

Areas of action

The coalition will reduce short-lived climate pollutants by:

• Driving the development of national action plans and the adoption of policy priorities
• Building capacity among developing countries
• Mobilising public and private funds for action
• Raising awareness globally
• Fostering regional and international cooperation, and
• Improving scientific understanding of the pollutant impacts and mitigation

Expanding the coalition

The coalition will be reaching out to other countries. There are a number of countries that have expressed interest, and it is anticipated that the small initial group of six will expand quickly.