Reducing Black Carbon from Diesels: A Near­Term Climate Strategy

The document identifies black carbon from diesel engines as a potent warming pollutant and proposes the widespread adoption of diesel particulate filters (DPFs) to achieve immediate climate and public health benefits in the United States.

• Black carbon is a highly potent warming pollutant that absorbs sunlight and radiates heat, and it is approximately 2000 times more powerful than an equivalent amount of CO2 over a 20-year period. It also accelerates the melting of ice and snow by darkening their surfaces.
• The United States has the world's highest per-capita emissions of black carbon, with 57% of these emissions originating from diesel sources: 41% from on-road diesels and 16% from off-road diesels.
• Diesel particulate filters (DPFs) are identified as the only retrofit technology capable of virtually eliminating black carbon particles, with an effectiveness rate of over 90%.
• There are 11 million old diesel engines in the U.S. that could be retrofitted with DPFs. A Clean Air Task Force (CATF) proposal to retrofit one million heavy-duty Class 8 trucks between 2012 and 2030 would reduce emissions by 96 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, which is comparable to eliminating the annual emissions of 21 million cars or 1.8 million Class 8 diesel trucks.
• Beyond climate benefits, reducing diesel particulate matter is expected to improve public health and prevent thousands of premature deaths annually in the United States.

APA

Clean Air Task Force (2009). Reducing Black Carbon from Diesels: A Near­Term Climate Strategy. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093802/CATF_FactSheet_BC_Diesel_Climate.pdf

Chicago

Clean Air Task Force. Reducing Black Carbon from Diesels: A Near­Term Climate Strategy. 2009. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093802/CATF_FactSheet_BC_Diesel_Climate.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Clean Air Task Force |title=Reducing Black Carbon from Diesels: A Near­Term Climate Strategy |date=10 September 2009 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093802/CATF_FactSheet_BC_Diesel_Climate.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{cleanairtaskforce2009reducing, author = {{Clean Air Task Force}}, title = {{Reducing Black Carbon from Diesels: A Near­Term Climate Strategy}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2009}, month = sep, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21093802/CATF_FactSheet_BC_Diesel_Climate.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }