A new study quantifying emissions from a fleet of gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines and port fuel injection (PFI) engines finds that the measured decrease in CO2 emissions from GDIs is much greater than the potential climate forcing associated with higher black carbon emissions from GDI engines. Thus, the researchers... Read more →

According to a new international study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 38% of black carbon in the Russian Arctic originates from transport and 35% from residential heating sources, while open fires, power plants, and gas flaring are responsible for only 12%, 9%, and 6% respectively.... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized its Tier 3 emission standards for gasoline sulfur content; evaporative emissions; and tailpipe emissions from passenger cars, light-duty trucks, medium-duty passenger vehicles, and some heavy-duty vehicles. EPA had issued the proposed standards last March. (Earlier post.) The Tier 3 standards, which come into... Read more →

Aggregation of SLCP project activities into typologies. Click to enlarge. A new report prepared by the World Bank at the request of the G8 identifies ways that the World Bank can do more through its projects to reduce the emission of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs): black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone,... Read more →

Schematic overview of the primary black-carbon emission sources and the processes that control the distribution of black carbon in the atmosphere and determine its role in the climate system. Source: Bond et al. Click to enlarge. Black carbon (BC) is the second largest man-made contributor to global warming and its... Read more →

BC emission map of China at 0.1° × 0.1° for year 2007. East and West China are separated by a dashed line from Qiqihar, Yinchuan, to Kunming. Major emission areas are marked. Credit: ACS, Wang et al. Click to enlarge. A new black carbon (BC) emissions inventory from China found... Read more →

Key policy-relevant scientific uncertainties related to BC. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has submitted its final Report to Congress on Black Carbon, in response to an October 2009 request from Congress to advance efforts to understand the role of black carbon (BC) in climate... Read more →

National benefits of the CH4 plus BC measures versus the reference scenario. Circle areas are proportional to values for (A and B) climate change, (C and D) human health (values for population over age 30), and (E and F) agriculture. Source: Shindell et al. Click to enlarge. A study by... Read more →

Geographical distributions of global BC emissions from motor vehicles in 1976 (A) and 2006 (B). Country-based mean values are shown for 1976 and 1° × 1° resolution was used for 2006. Credit: ACS, Wang et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Peking University have developed a new methodology to model... Read more →

In testimony for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public hearing (earlier post) on the proposed endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act (earlier post), Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson urged the EPA to include black carbon in the finding. Black carbon—soot—is a global-warming agent the immediate... Read more →

In another study highlighting the role of black carbon particles in global warming (earlier post), a team of researchers has found that emissions from black carbon (BC) and organic matter (OM) drive springtime (March-May) melting in Eurasia nearly as much (95%) as anthropogenic CO2. The study was published in 7... Read more →

A pair of researchers from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space (GISS) and Columbia University have found that black carbon is responsible for 50%, or almost 1 °C of the total 1.9 °C increased Arctic warming from 1890 to 2007. The paper by Drew Shindell and Greg Faluvegi of Columbia,... Read more →