, Columnist
The World Is Waking Up to the Dangers of Super Pollutants
A group of lesser-discussed greenhouse gasses is many times more powerful than CO2. Cracking down on them can provide immediate results.
Powerful but easy to tame.
Photographer: Xavier Galiana/AFP via Getty Images
This article is for subscribers only.
Carbon dioxide is the big daddy of greenhouse gases. Making up the bulk of our emissions and staying up in the atmosphere for many centuries, whether we’re successful or not at limiting global temperature rise boils down to what we do about CO2.
But it’s only part of the equation in global warming. A group of lesser-discussed climate pollutants are many times more powerful than carbon dioxide and could serve as an emergency brake on near-term warming. Even better: There’s reason to be cautiously optimistic.