Projects

This project, led by Instituto Ar (Healthy Air Brazil), and in partnership with climate-tech company Umgrauemeio and local organisations, aims to reduce forest fires and their associated black carbon emissions on Marajó Island in Brazil's Amazon region.

This project will develop a collection of photographs of black carbon to help bring focus on the pollutant in an engaging and human-focused. The free images will be provided as an accessible communications resource for the clean air and climate communities globally.

This project aims to raise awareness of the importance of black carbon mitigation in air quality and climate policy communities.

This project focuses on analysing the health effects of black carbon in Sweden and Denmark. The aim is to strengthen the evidence base on black carbon's health impacts, contributing to an updated WHO systematic review and generating insights relevant to the revision of the Gothenburg Protocol and the EU NEC directive.

The project aims to correct the misconception that reducing black carbon offers limited climate benefits. By focusing on India, where high-quality observational data exists, it will use real‑world measurements to improve models of black carbon and brown carbon impacts. This work will produce more accurate metrics that better capture the climate, health, and regional benefits of reducing these pollutants.

This project delivered a policy brief at COP28 that sets out the case for action to drive increased ambition and action on black carbon.

This project, led by Respire with support from CNRS and Pollutrack, will expand on an existing EDF cohort study to measure and analyse the impact of wood burning on black carbon and air pollution exposure in residential settings, generating evidence to inform policy and drive France and EU-level advocacy.

This grant intends to drive critical national and subnational policies and pilot programmes that accelerate the transition of diesel off-road machinery to zero emissions.

This project involved collaborating with key partners and countries to develop and deliver a set of national announcements on black carbon and sources of black carbon at COP30.

This project aims to minimise knowledge gaps on links between black carbon emissions and regional precipitation change, and to better understand how it influences extreme precipitation and other hazards, including impacts on temperature, haze and compounding pollution effects.

This project developed a robust political-economy analysis report, showcasing where feasible and scalable policy instruments exist and the enabling conditions for them to tackle black carbon emissions.

This project aims to engage shipping stakeholders on International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulation to reduce shipping black carbon emissions in the Arctic through the use of cleaner fuels and bring a proposal forward to the IMO for approval in 2026. It will also progress practical measures to reduce black carbon emissions from Arctic shipping.

The project aims to advocate for the inclusion of emission reduction targets for black carbon as part of the ongoing revision of the UNECE Gothenburg Protocol and the ongoing review of the EU National Emission Ceiling (NEC) Directive. This project also aims to raise the current level of ambition for regulated air pollutants under the Gothenburg Procol.

This project will analyse the emissions, transport and impact of black carbon particles from heavily polluted lowlands to elevated sites, specifically mountain ecosystems, in specific geographical regions, such as the Himalayan mountains in Nepal. It seeks to provide a novel perspective on how black carbon particles, originating from the Indo-Gangetic Plain, are transported to higher-elevation regions through mountain valley circulation.

An emulator is a tool based on Earth System Models (ESMs) simulations that can be applied to investigate climate responses to emission changes in different regions and sectors in a more flexible manner, more rapidly and with lower associated costs. This project will develop an emulator using simulations from three different ESMs representing the latest generation of climate models and scientific information to inform decision-making.

This project aims to resolve scientific bottlenecks that present major barriers to action on black carbon, focusing on secondary research and expert engagement.

This project focuses on promoting the revision of ecodesign regulations for solid fuel appliances for residential heating, with a specific focus on black carbon and other key climate and health damaging pollutants.

The project aims to support the integration of air quality and black carbon into the next generation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC 3.0). The UNDP will engage with at least eight countries to integrate air quality and black carbon into their NDCs.