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Policymakers discuss further black carbon cuts

Black carbon emissions in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region could drop 40% by 2020 if additional mitigation measures are adopted, according to the findings of an expert group discussed last week.

Policymakers meeting in Geneva on 15 April considered a series of sectors with strong black carbon mitigation potentials. Slashing these emissions is seen as vital to improve air quality and human health as well as slowing down climate change. In the residential heating sector for example, increasing combustion efficiency by using wood pellets instead of raw wood or biomass would help reduce black carbon emissions. Residential heating has the largest potential to cut these emissions, followed by off-road machinery vehicles and road transport.

Countries in the UNECE region, which includes the EU, Canada and the US, emit about 15% of global black carbon emissions. Nearly half comes from the US. The EU accounts for 15% of these emissions.

The 1999 Gothenberg protoco is being revised to include black carbon. The revision is due to be complete by December. On Monday 18th April, UNECE published an action plan on energy efficiency in the housing sector. Institutional bottlenecks are holding countries back from developing green housing sectors, it states. Reforms should be a major priority for governments, particularly in developing countries, according to the plan.