This report is intended to inform theinternational development community about the links betweenblack (BC) carbon and climate change. With growingscientific clarity on the contribution of black carbon toclimate change, the benefits of limiting its emissions arebecoming more evident. This report reviews the existingknowledge on the subject and identifies relevantconsiderations for development organizations. Climatemodeling shows that a large reduction in the global amountsof BC emissions, without changes in emissions of organiccarbon, will lead to a sharp onetime decrease in the warminginfluence of human activities. A rapid reduction in BCemissions has thus been proposed as a way to partiallyoffset the projected increase in temperatures in comingdecades. This will not solve the long-term problem ofclimate change, which is caused by the greenhouse gas(GHGs), but it could extend the limited time that isavailable to reduce emissions of GHGs aggressively, beforeglobal temperatures reach dangerous levels. Proposals toreduce BC emissions also often address the need to reduceemissions of several other short-lived gases (such as ozone)that are mostly not covered by the Kyoto Protocol. Thispaper is designed to inform development agencies, in abrief, simplified, and non-technical manner, about the linksbetween BC and climate change, and how these could relate todevelopment policy. The paper describes: (a) what is knownabout the impact of BC and related aerosols on climate, (b)the sources and importance of BC emissions, (c) possibleactions and policies to mitigate emissions, and (d)considerations for agencies in light of these issues.
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