Does black carbon abatement hamper CO 2 abatement?

Abstract

Concerns have been raised that near-term black carbon abatement strategies for global warming mitigation would interfere with the longer-term CO 2 abatement efforts. In response, we put forward a "combined target and metric approach", a theoretical framework, in which the time horizon of the metric is linked to the specific target of the climate policy. In this approach, a shorter time horizon for the metric is justified only when the overall climate policy is tightened; the lower the target level of the climate policy, the earlier the year of the target. Employing a consistent time perspective for the metric and target means that enhanced near-term reduction of short-lived climate forcers does not reduce the importance of the CO 2 abatement, since the overall climate target is stricter.

Evaluating the climate and air quality impacts of short-lived pollutants

“…Andreae et al, 2005;Meinshausen et al, 2009;Penner et al, 2010). Thus, there is an urgent need to understand and quantify the role that these components may play in international efforts to reduce global warming (Jackson, 2009;Berntsen et al, 2010;Arneth et al, 2009;Rypdal et al, 2009b;Molina et al, 2009;Unger et al, 2010).…”

“…The choice of time horizon is then no longer so arbitrary, but is linked to the time at which, for example, 2 • C is likely to be reached. This use of the GTP (Shine et al, 2007;Berntsen et al, 2010;Tanaka et al, 2013) mimics the behaviour of more complex (but less transparent) metrics based on integrated assessment models (Manne and Richels, 2001).…”

“…-Black carbon (BC, also commonly known as soot), a product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass, affects climate via several mechanisms (Bond et al, 2013). It causes warming through absorption of sunlight and by reducing surface albedo when deposited on snow.…”

“…Brasseur and Roeckner, 2005;Rypdal et al, 2009a;Kopp and Mauzerall, 2010;Penner et al, 2010;Unger et al, 2010;Shindell et al, 2012;Bond et al, 2013;Bowerman et al, 2013;Rogelj et al, 2014). Given the interest from policymakers in the abatement of SLCPs, an urgent challenge is to determine the exact climate impacts of the different species involved (e.g.…”

“…BC has received particular attention as a component for which a specific emission reduction might have an immediate climate benefit (e.g. Bond and Sun, 2005;Boucher and Reddy, 2008;Grieshop et al, 2009;Rypdal et al, 2009b;Berntsen et al, 2010;Bond et al, 2013).…”