The cascade of global trade to large climate forcing over the Tibetan Plateau glaciers

Yi, Kan, Meng, Jing, Yang, Haozhe, He, Cenlin, Henze, Daven K., Liu, Junfeng, Guan, Dabo, Liu, Zhu, Zhang, Lin, Zhu, Xi, Cheng, Yanli and Tao, Shu (2019) The cascade of global trade to large climate forcing over the Tibetan Plateau glaciers. Nature Communications, 10. ISSN 2041-1723

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Abstract

Black carbon (BC) aerosols constitute unique and important anthropogenic climate forcers that potentially accelerate the retreat of glaciers over the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP). Here we show that a large amount of BC emissions produced in India and China—a region of BC emissions to which the HTP is more vulnerable compared with other regions—are related to the consumption of goods and services in the USA and Europe through international trade. These processes lead to a virtual transport pathway of BC from distant regions to the HTP glaciers. From a consumption perspective, the contribution from India to the HTP glaciers shows a rapid increasing trend while the contributions from the USA, Europe, and China decreased over the last decade. International trade aggravates the BC pollution over the HTP glaciers and may cause significant climate change there. Global efforts toward reducing the cascading of BC emissions to Asia, especially the Indian subcontinent, are urgently needed.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Water Security Research Centre
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	29 Jul 2019 13:30
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 05:05
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/71829
DOI:	10.1038/s41467-019-10876-9

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