Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG): Scientific Achievements 2012

In response to the current impasse in developing  a global climate policy regime and the urgent need to reverse global greenhouse gas emission trends to avoid dangerous climate change, the Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases (MAG) Program developed a number of new research perspectives in 2012.  

MAG’s research highlighted measures that make cost-effective contributions to development, human health, agricultural production, and biodiversity at the local scale and in the near term, while yielding positive side-effects for climate change. These analyses, which involved scientists from numerous IIASA national member organization countries, are of immediate policy relevance for industrialized and developing countries, and contribute to a range of international policy initiatives, such as the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution, the revision of air quality policy of the European Union, the newly founded Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and the work of the Arctic Council.

As a central activity of IIASA’s Energy and Climate research area, MAG’s research capitalizes on IIASA’s systems perspective to bridge different spatial and temporal scales by linking to the long-term greenhouse gas scenarios of IIASA’s Energy Program. Cooperation with scientists researching other global problem areas is providing more holistic insights, for example, how agricultural and land use policies can also enhance GHG mitigation, or how improved human life expectancy resulting from investments in environmental protection can outweigh slower growth in per capita income when measured on the widely used human development index.


A global perspective on air pollution

In 2012 the GAINS model was used to construct a range of air pollution scenarios up to 2050 for alternative assumptions with respect to dedicated policy interventions on emission controls. More

Health impacts of air pollution

To strengthen quantification of the co-benefits of air pollutant and greenhouse gas mitigation measures, MAG improved its assessment methods of the health impacts of air pollution along several lines in 2012 More

Health benefits of greenhouse gas mitigation

A global decarbonization strategy can significantly reduce the loss of life expectancy from fine particulate matter More

Nitrogen management offers potential for win-win solutions

In 2012 MAG contributed to a number of studies on issues related to nitrogen, including future nitrogen management More


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Last edited: 28 October 2013

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