Updated Global Black Carbon Emissions from 1960 to 2017: Improvements, Trends, and Drivers

Accurate estimation of black carbon (BC) emissions is essential
for assessing the health and climate impact of this pollutant. Past
emission inventories were associated with high uncertainty due to
data limitations, and recent information has provided a unique updating
opportunity. Moreover, understanding the drivers that cause temporal
emission changes is of research value. Here, we update the global
BC emission estimates using new data on the activities and emission
factors (EFs). The new inventory covers 73 detailed sources at 0.1°
× 0.1° spatial resolution and monthly temporal resolution
from 1960 to 2017. The estimated annual emissions were 32% higher
than the average of several previous inventories, which was primarily
due to field-measured EFs for residential stoves and differentiated
EFs for motor vehicles. In addition, the updated emissions show an
inverse U-shaped temporal trend, which was mainly driven by the interaction
between the positive effects of population growth, per capita energy
consumption, and vehicle fleet and the negative effects of residential
energy switching, stove upgrading, phasing out of beehive coke ovens,
and reduced EFs for vehicles and industrial processes. Urbanization
caused a significant increase in urban emissions accompanied by a
more significant decline in rural emissions.