The Human Impacts Database

A collection of useful numbers for quantifying the impacts of the human presence on Earth.

Total anthropogenic black carbon emissions

Atmospheric & Biogeochemical CyclesAir pollution

This quantity comes from a time series measurement and the most recent value (2015) is reported.

Value:

This is equivalent to...

5.1 × (1 + 0.92)±1 Tg BC / yr

5.1 × (1 + 0.92)±1 Mt BC / yr
HuID: 60664
Relevant Year(s): 2015
Summary: Bottom-up estimate of anthropogenic black carbon (BC) global emissions. A major constituent of soot, black carbon is the most solar energy-absorbing component of particulate matter and can absorb one million times more energy than CO2. When deposited in Earth's surface, BC darkens the surface of snow and ice, reducing their albedo and hastening melting. For these reasons, BC emissions contribute to rising global temperatures.
Method: The Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) provides independent estimates of the global anthropogenic emissions and emission trends, based on publicly available statistics. This scientific independent emission inventory is characterized by a coherent world historical trend from 1970 to year x-3, including emissions of all greenhouse gases, air pollutants and aerosols. Data are presented for all countries, with emissions provided per main source category, and spatially allocated on a 0.1x0.1 grid over the globe. The uncertainty is taken from EDGARv4.3.2, Tables S4 of Crippa et al. (2018) for non-Annex I countries, with the fractional uncertainty for 2013-2015 taken equal to that of 2012. The uncertainty reported represents one standard deviation of the assumed lognormal distribution.
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) EDGAR v5.0 Global Air Pollutant Emissions. (2019)
Dataset: Bottom-up estimate of BC emissions (EDGARv5.0) (BC_emissions_processed.csv)
global resolution
regional resolution
Trend:
Original Data License: JRC Open Data License
Added By: ilopezgo