Super Pollutants: The Hidden Half of Global Warming

Climate One

News, Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Carbon dioxide is a big deal. It’s responsible for about half of global heating. But what about the other half? There’s actually good news here: Nearly half of the temperature increases driving climate disasters come from super pollutants, most of which don’t stay in the atmosphere for nearly as long as carbon dioxide — which can last for centuries. Methane, for example, is about 80 times more potent at warming the climate than carbon dioxide over 20 years. But it only stays in the atmosphere for a fraction of the time. So if we can put the brakes on methane and other super pollutants, we can put the brakes on warming. Guests: Ilissa Ocko, Senior Climate Scientist, Spark Climate Solutions David Kanter, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, New York University Millie Chu Baird, Vice President, Office of the Chief Scientist, Environmental Defense Fund For show notes and related links, visit our website. Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today.Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	AI is incredible. They can teach you how to fry an egg and even write a poem, pirate style.
0:07.0	But it knows nothing about your work. Slackbot is different. It doesn't just know the facts.
0:14.0	It knows your schedule. It can turn a brainstorm into a brief and it doesn't need to be taught.
0:20.0	Because Slackbot isn't just another
0:22.4	AI. It's AI that knows your work as well as you do. Visit Slack.com forward slash meet Slackbot
0:28.8	to learn more. I'm Ariana Brocious and I'm Kusha Navadar. And this is Climate One.
0:43.3	Kusha, when you think of greenhouse gases, what comes to mind? You mean before we started working on this episode, I think I would have just said carbon dioxide.
0:50.3	Then I guess if you pressed me a little more, I might have come up with methane. I mean, there are like a billion cows belching this stuff.
0:57.0	Yeah, I think I probably would have had the same answer.
0:59.0	So much of the climate conversation is focused on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide or CO2,
1:05.0	and rightly so because CO2 has caused over half of the global warming we're experiencing today.
1:11.6	But what about the other half?
1:13.7	Well, need I repeat?
1:15.0	Methane. Cows!
1:18.2	Okay, you get partial credit.
1:20.7	Methane from cows and landfills and the fossil fuel industry and a few other sources
1:26.1	is the next biggest contributor to climate change after CO2.
1:30.3	But methane, while important, is only one of several so-called super pollutants that account for nearly half of global warming.
1:38.3	Yeah, so it's wild that they aren't talked about more.
1:41.3	And as I've been learning, these super pollutants aren't just bad for our climate systems.
1:46.1	They're also harmful for air quality.
1:48.4	So reducing them has multiple benefits.
	...

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