Arctic Council and black carbon emission reductions - effect on Arctic climate

Black carbon (BC) absorbs visible light efficiently and warms the atmosphere. The significance of BC as a climate forcer is very important in the Arctic, because atmospheric light absorption is enhanced above the reflecting snow and ice surfaces, and also because the deposited BC particles darken the snow and ice, which affects the melt rate. The recent AMAP assessment indicated that with targeted choices of already existing emission mitigation measures of BC rich sources, it could be possible to cut the projected global and Arctic climate impacts significantly in the coming few decades, provided that they could be implemented globally in a large scale. Such reductions can, however, be politically very demanding to achieve, since currently no mechanisms or policy processes are in place. The Arctic Council adopted in 2015 a Framework “ENHANCED BLACK CARBON AND METHANE EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS, AN ARCTIC COUNCIL FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION” to accelerate the decline in BC emissions. Additionally the Arctic Council Observer States are called upon to participate in the efforts. Currently eight observer countries have participated in the process. In this work we study what accelerated and ambitious BC actions in the Arctic Council alone and together with the observer countries could achieve in terms of reducing atmospheric burden, deposition and radiative forcing of BC in the Arctic. The analysis takes into account the cooling by co-emitted sulfur species and organic carbon. The results are compared with large-scale global emission reductions that have been explored in previous studies. This work brings to attention the unique and still relatively unexplored institutional potential of the Arctic Council to catalyze global regulatory action on the abatement of black carbon and air pollution by engaging on concrete, quantitative and collective measures to reduce emissions.