This briefing by Clean Air Fund, the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Berkeley Air Monitoring Group and Orbis Air highlights the importance of reducing black carbon emissions, alongside deep decarbonisation. The Case for Action on Black Carbon points to the gap between the growing evidence on black carbon’s regional climate impacts and its absence from global climate strategies.
The report summarises the latest science on black carbon, also known as soot, which is emitted from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biomass, and waste. The report highlights the role black carbon plays in speeding up the melting of snow and ice in the Arctic, the Himalayas and the Andes, disrupting monsoon patterns in West Africa and India, and worsening the effects of dangerous heatwaves.