Climate impact of black carbon emitted from energy consumption in the world's regions

Abstract

We have used the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique General Circulation Model (LMD GCM) to estimate the contribution of different regions to global black carbon (BC) atmospheric burden and direct radiative forcing (DRF). On the global scale, fossil fuels and biofuels account for 66% and 34% of energy-related BC emissions, respectively. East and South Asia together contribute more than 50% of the global surface, atmospheric, and top-of-atmosphere DRF by BC. The regional contributions to global mean forcings closely follow the respective contributions to atmospheric burden. The global warming potential (GWP) of BC for different regions ranges from 374 to 677 with a global mean of 480. Europe is the largest contributor (63%) to BC deposition at high latitudes. The indirect GWP due to the BC effect on snow albedo is estimated to be largest for Europe (possibly as large as 1200), suggesting that BC emission reductions from this region are more efficient to mitigate climate change.