Agricultural operations are the largest source of ammonia emissions in the United States and contribute to the formation of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate, two prevalent forms of fine particulate matter. Researchers have found an association between fine particulate matter and a variety of adverse healths effects, including premature mortality, chronic bronchitis, hospital admissions, and asthma attacks. Management practices that reduce ammonia emissions may decrease adverse health effects, resulting in significant economic benefits. We estimated the impact of a variety of emission controls, including diet optimization, alum, and incorporation of manure into the land. The results suggest that relatively modest management policies can have a significant impact on fine particulate formation in the atmosphere. Because of the heterogeneous nature of particulate matter, a key question is the importance of particulate matter size and composition. To the extent that ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate contribute to adverse health effects, ammonia management may have significant health implications. Our results suggest that a 10% reduction in livestock ammonia emissions can lead to over $4 billion annually in particulate-related health benefits.

Recent US data indicate a clear and progressive decoupling of carbon emissions and energy intensity from economic growth. This is primarily a consequence of state and national environmental and energy policy actions, and secondarily a result of shifts in economic structure and increases in natural gas supplies. To assess future opportunities of proactive approaches to policy and investment, we analyze 20 sector-based actions at the national and subnational levels in the US that can narrow remaining national carbon emissions gaps by 2020 and beyond, while improving economic and energy efficiency in every sector. These actions are found to provide favorable returns on investment for job creation, energy and cost savings, and multiple measures of energy security. Selection and design of these new actions are based on evaluation of hundreds of policy options derived from facilitated, stakeholder and consensus-based development of comprehensive climate action planning in 20 states. They represent top issues of focus for policymakers, and serve as key drivers for new investment, collaboration, and governance approaches that are needed to integrate economic, energy, and environmental security in the US. This same general approach to planning and analysis is of value to other nations seeking similar benefits. Techniques for comprehensive, multi-objective, fully integrated, and collaborative systems of planning and analysis are important as a means for comprehensive security solutions. This also requires leadership at all levels of government, and a broadened view of national security. P. Delaquil et al.28

A concrete roadmap toward a low-carbon society in case of Kyoto City

From 2009 to 18, the US based Center for Climate Strategies and Beijing based Global Environmental Institute led a cooperative US-China relations program on low carbon development (LCD). The template for bilateral cooperation leveraged traditional policy innovation and mainstreaming procedures in China through early stage training and counterpart exchange, co-development and piloting of tools, national endorsement for official use, training and capacity building, and cooperative planning actions. The experience suggests that the bilateral cooperation model through high level technical and institutional cooperation between governmental and nongovernmental experts worked well and can be replicated with customization to new bilateral relationships at different jurisdictional levels and for different issue areas. However, to succeed it requires years of stable investment and continuous counterpart engagement, and its application to new bilateral cooperation must address a variety of barriers. The China subnational LCD co-development process was enabled by an existing US template for state level comprehensive climate action planning applied in over 20 US states. Its domestication in China resulted in creation of the China Subnational LCD Planning and Analysis Toolkit, a pilot in Chongqing, official endorsement by China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and further recognition through a US State Department -China NDRC EcoPartnership. Ultimately, it involved many partners, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute for Policy and Management, the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, and over 30 provinces and cities. It led to new China efforts addressing renewable energy implementation in South China, and for LCD and renewable energy cooperation in