China’s success in cutting major air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and primary aerosols likely worsened the climate change effect of the country’s rising carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, new research showed. According to the paper , ‘Climate effects of China’s efforts to improve its air quality’ published by Chinese and U.S. scientists in Environmental Research Letters, China’s success in cutting sulfur dioxide and other major air pollutants has had a negative effect on the so-called radiative forcing, the amount of the sun’s energy trapped in the earth’s atmosphere, which determines the earth’s temperature. The research found that the decline in China’s sulfur dioxide and black carbon emissions between 2006 and 2017 would result in a net warming of 0.1 degrees Celsius in the northern hemisphere, according to climate simulations the scientists ran. “The success of Chinese policies to further reduce aerosol emissions may bring additional net warming, and […]