Projects
Black Carbon Project
The ChiNorBC Project is a collaboration between the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) and the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA). Partners on the Norwegian side are CICERO Center for International Climate Research and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). In addition to CRAES, the partner on the Chinese side is the Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP). CRAES and CAEP are government agencies under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE).
This partnership between the Chinese and Norwegians focuses on joint research, technology exchange, and the development of strategies to reduce black carbon emissions in Northern China. Addressing black carbon emissions is relevant for improving public health and mitigating climate change. By targeting key sources of black carbon, the project aims to improve local air quality, reduce health risks, and contribute to mitigating climate change.
ChiNorBC Main Objectives
The ChiNorBC Project is paving the way for solutions to reduce black carbon emissions, improve air quality, protect public health and mitigate climate change with the following objectives:
- Identify and implement effective strategies to control black carbon emissions from major sources.
- Reduce the health risks associated with exposure to black carbon pollutants.
- Address the role of black carbon in accelerating climate change.
- Provide policy recommendations on emissions reductions based on updated/new air quality and climate change information.
- Develop an improved emission inventory for BC/OC emissions in China using the most recent, best available national statistics and measurements obtained in the project.
- Develop scenarios towards 2035 for reducing the emissions and impacts of BC/OC in China.
- Provide new estimates of effects on climate, air quality, and health.
Running from 2020 to 2023, the ChiNorBC Project made significant contributions to understanding black carbon’s environmental and health impacts in Northern China. The project has advanced air quality monitoring, enhanced local emission data, and developed targeted strategies for emission reduction. The project also strengthens long-lasting cooperation between Norway and China, fostering a collaborative approach to addressing short-lived climate forcers and supporting global climate action.
Why Cut Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCF)?
Black carbon is a significant air pollutant that contributes to climate change, affects air quality, and poses severe health risks. Primarily emitted from residential combustion, industrial processes, and transportation, black carbon is a short-lived climate forcers with both immediate and long-term impacts.
The effects of SLCFs on climate are much shorter lived than CO2, which continues to affect climate for centuries. This characteristic has coined the collective term of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs). Reducing SLCFs can contribute to slowing the rate of warming and reducing near- term temperature increase, with significant co-benefits for air quality and climate change. In other words, cutting SLCFs will make our planet and people healthier and happier, as well as future generations.
The primary contributor to air pollution is particles suspended in the atmosphere, called particulate matter (PM). BC, OC, and sulfate particles formed from emissions of sulfur dioxide are key constituents of PM. Particles also affect climate. While BC warms the atmosphere, OC and sulphate contribute to cooling. Ozone — formed in the lower layer of the atmosphere from chemical reactions involving nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons — is harmful to climate, health, crops and vegetation. Ozone in the lower layer of the atmosphere is a greenhouse gas and an increase in the amount contributes to climate warming. Particles have many and complex climate interactions, affecting temperature, clouds and precipitation.
Key Results of ChiNorBC Carbon Project
Providing accurate present-day modelled atmospheric composition of BC/OC, as well as possible future developments, to society and policymakers is critical. A key step towards this is to use up-to-date emission inventories and carefully evaluated models. Below is the evaluation of the effects of BC/OC based on the updated emissions inventory in northern China:
Figure 1 – Simulated monthly mean concentration of BC/OC in key cities of northern China
Based on the up-to-date emission inventory, the CRAES-CMAQ model simulates air pollutant concentrations (BC,OC,O3,SO2, NO2, PM2.5, PM10 and CO, etc.) in the Chinese region from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018. The monthly average BC/OC concentration in key cities in northern China showed (Fig.1) that the simulation results with the up-to-date emission inventory could well simulate the BC/OC concentration in northern China, and the overestimation of the baseline emission inventory and the simulated pollutant concentration could be significantly improved. The simulated BC/OC concentration showed a trend of high in autumn and winter and low in spring and summer.
Figure 2 – The spatial distribution of simulated annual BC/OC concentration
Figure 2 shows the spatial distribution of the simulated annual mean values of BC and OC during 2018. The simulated spatial distribution trend of BC/OC shows that the concentration of BC/OC is higher in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas, the three eastern provinces and some cities in the northwest. The regional distribution of BC/OC concentration in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is more extensive. The average annual concentration of BC was less than 25μg/m3 and that of OC was less than 45μg/m3.
Figure 3 – Annual mean atmospheric burden of BC, primary organic aerosol (POA), sulfate, and nitrate aerosol simulated with the OsloCTM3 with new year 2018 Chinese emissions and CEDSv21 emissions for the rest of the world and ratio of burdens simulated with the new emissions and with CEDSv21 Chinese emissions.
Atmospheric concentrations of air pollutants are also simulated with the global chemical-transport model OsloCTM3 using the new Chinese emissions provided within the project. Results are evaluated against measurements and compared with corresponding output using the most recent global emission inventory, the Community Emission Data System 2021 release (CEDSv21). For the simulations, we replace CEDSv21 emissions with the new inventory in China, keeping the former for the rest of the world. Figure 3 shows the resulting annual mean burden of BC, primary organic aerosol (POA), sulfate, and nitrate aerosols using the new emissions (top) and the ratio between the new inventory and CEDSv21 (bottom).
As shown by the top panels, the air pollution levels are higher in the more densely populated eastern China region, whereas lower pollution levels are seen further west, in agreement with the emission patterns. We note that while local emissions dominate the pollution levels, some pollution is also transported in over China from neighboring regions such as India in these global simulations. For China as a whole, emissions from the new inventory are lower than in CEDSv21 for all provided species except OC, ranging from 9% lower for total annual BC emissions to 43% lower for SO2 emissions. This result in lower regionally averaged atmospheric burdens for BC, sulfate, and nitrate but higher burden of organic aerosols, compared to model simulations using CEDSv21. Underlying these regional means are regional differences. For instance, while the sulfate burden is consistently lower across China with the new emissions, by up to 20-30% in some areas, BC and POA burdens are higher in the northeast and northwest by up to 60-70%, but lower to the southeast. Hence, both absolute magnitudes and spatial distribution of emissions contribute to the differences between inventories, sometimes in opposing directions.
ChiNorBC Project Milestones
9th December 2020: The kick-off meeting of the “Chinese-Norwegian Project on Emission, Impact, and Control Policy for Black Carbon and its Co-benefits in Northern China (ChiNorBC)” was held in Beijing and virtually on Zoom. Leaders and project experts from the Department of International Cooperation and the Department of Atmosphere Environment of the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment (MCE), the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES), the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA), Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning (CAEP), Center for International Climate Research (CICERO) and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) attended the meeting and delivered the speech.
9th December 2020: The ChiNorBC project Emission Workshop was held concurrently with the kick-off meeting. More than 20 experts and governmental officials from relevant departments and the project group from both China and Norway attended the meeting. Experts from within the project and outside experts from Tsinghua University and IIASA introduced the current status of BC emissions in China and relevant research results. After this workshop, more data, including emission factors and activity levels, will be investigated and a BC/OC emission inventory of northern China will be developed. For northern China, the emission inventory will be given a higher temporal/spatial resolution.
15th December 2021: ChiNorBC Project Workshop on Emissions inventories and preliminary modelling results was held in Beijing and virtually on Zoom. The meeting was co-chaired by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) and the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA) as the main implementing partners of the project. Representatives from the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences attended the workshop and delivered speeches.
16th February 2022: A project internal workshop on Scenarios was held. The agenda and presentation are attached. Zheng Yixuan presented the progress that has been made on output 5. This included status of BC/OC control in China, scenario design and emission projection results.
20th April 2023: The final governmental seminar for the ChiNorBC project was held in Beijing. The seminar was co-chaired by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences (CRAES) and the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA) as the main implementing partners of the project. Representatives from the competent authorities of the Chinese and Norwegian implementing partners and the project team members attended the workshop and delivered speeches.
20th April 2023: An in-depth seminar on Short-lived Climate Forcers (SLCFs) open to the public via live broadcasting was held. This seminar focuses on the co-benefits of mitigating short-lived climate forcers based on the key results from the ChiNorBC project.
