Governor Brown, Mayor Wheeler, Chair Kafoury and President Peterson:

To meet the current and urgent needs for effective action to stem global temperature rise, we are calling on all levels of our government in Oregon to immediately develop strategies to reduce black carbon emissions in our state.

Why Black Carbon?

According to the United Nations, only 11 years remain to avoid irreversible damage due to climate change. It is time to act with urgency and adapt our strategies accordingly. The video above illustrates that it is impossible to meet the goal of keeping global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees by 2050 without a dual strategy of reducing SLCPs alongside Carbon Dioxide. Short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP) are powerful climate forcers that have relatively short atmospheric lifetimes. These pollutants include the greenhouse gases methane (CH4)  and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and anthropogenic black carbon (BC). Because SLCP impacts are especially strong over the short term, acting now to reduce their emissions can have an immediate beneficial impact on climate change and save millions of lives.

• Black Carbon is the 2nd leading cause of climate change
• Older diesel engines are the biggest contribution to black carbon in US:  trucks, construction equipment, and locomotives
• Oregon contributes .7% of total U.S. carbon emissions annually, but our state makes an outsized contribution to black carbon: Oregon Diesel Emissions rank the 6th highest in the nation. 
• Short-term accelerant - leaves atmosphere in days
• Eliminating Black Carbon could hold global temperatures down by .5 degree, getting us one to two decades, which we could spend fixing the bigger problem of pure Carbon Dioxide.  
• New technologies are readily available - California has successfully cut black carbon by 90%
• 21,000 premature deaths per year in the US are attributed to black carbon, nearly 500 of which take place in Oregon - reductions save lives.