Over the last few years there has been a concerted effort to address the impact of black carbon emissions on global warming. However, the knowledge and understanding about black carbon is incomplete and uncertain. The Black Carbon Research Initiative, under the aegis of the Indian Network of Climate Change Assessment, is an attempt to address these gaps in knowledge and answer the crucial question of its impact on climate change.
The initiative comes as focus shifts to consider the contribution of non-green house gas emissions like black carbon to global warming. There is a growing understanding that addressing black carbon emissions could help reduce the rate of global warming.
As the lifetime of black carbon in the atmosphere is short, from a few days to weeks, it is felt that reducing its emissions would give more immediate tangible results than those achieved by reduction of carbon dioxide emissions, which have an atmospheric lifetime of more than 100 years. Read the full report here.
Source: ET Bureau, Economic Times, New Delhi.
