Atmospheric Aerosols

CLIMATE AND AIR-QUALITY IMPACTS OF ENERGY-USE EMISSIONS

NCAP-COALESCE project

Climate change and air pollution have important societal consequences, especially in emerging economies, wherein transitions from polluting technologies to cleaner alternatives coincide with high population vulnerability to environmental threats. Atmospheric fine particles or aerosols in the Indian region are a unique mix of carbonaceous constituents and dust. Important gaps remain in understanding human activities influencing emissions, emission aerosol properties and regional atmospheric processes, specifically those related to carbonaceous aerosol impacts on climate and air quality. With an aim to address these gaps, the COALESCE (CarbOnaceous AerosoL Emissions, Source apportionment and ClimatE impacts) project, a 5-y (2017-2022) multi-institutional research and capacity building initiative, was launched on July 7, 2017. I lead a consortium of 22 institutional partners toward addressing scientific complexities related to carbonaceous aerosols, focussing on issues underlying their origin and fate, and their role as drivers of regional climate change, over India (https://www.ncapcoalesce.iitb.ac.in/). We aim to generate fundamental knowledge from the project and create strong links to India’s policy framework to enable climate and clean-air action in the region.