기후변화 대응과 미세먼지문제

Addressing Climate Change and Fine Dust

The WMO estimated that the global mean temperature for 2018 was 0.99 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Over the Arctic, annual average temperature anomalies exceeded 2 degrees Celsius overall and 3 degrees Celsius in places. The UNEP projected that even full implementation of current ‘Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)’ for 2030 by all countries would not stop global temperatures from increasing about 3 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2100. According to a recent BBC report, if emissions continue on the current trajectory, then the world’s seas are likely to rise between 62cm and 238cm by 2100. The Kyoto Protocol required only developed countries to adopt legally binding obligations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on average by 5.2% from the 1990 level during the period from 2008 to 2012. As China and India surged to become the largest and third largest GHG emitters, developed countries such as the US, Russia, Japan and Canada refused to implement the Kyoto Protocol after 2010. Against this background, the Paris agreement came into effect, inviting all countries to set their own reduction targets (NDCs) for 2030 and to reinforce those measures over time. More drastic measures will be required to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as the Paris agreement stipulated. It would seem that fine dust is a simpler and easier problem to address in that its sources and moving scope are limited, and reduction measures are effective locally and immediately. Thus, while fine dust poses acute threats to human health, it also may provide an opportunity to learn how to handle climate change and other environmental problems.