CEC releases guidelines to improve estimates of North American black carbon emissions
Report recommends methods to enhance accuracy and comparison of black carbon emission inventories
Montreal, 15 January 2016—The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has published a report aimed at improving cross-border comparisons and mitigation assessments of black carbon emission inventories between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The new CEC report is based on an extensive literature review and comparative evaluation of black carbon and underlying particulate matter emission inventory methods, and provides initial recommendations for “best practice” approaches.
A panel—composed of experts from Environment Canada, Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Ecología y Cambio Climático (INECC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—provided input on the recommendations. Also consulted were emissions research and inventory development experts from North America, Europe and Asia.
The final report, entitled North American Black Carbon Emissions Estimation Guidelines: Recommended Methods for Estimating Black Carbon, provides robust information for major source-sector categories (residential, biomass, onroad motor vehicles, nonroad mobile sources, power/industrial sources, and others), as well as specific sources for black carbon emission factors, activity and speciation factors. Its goal is to offer sufficient detail to allow inventory experts across North America to develop black carbon emission inventories for all sectors.
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About the CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) was established in 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, a parallel environmental agreement to NAFTA. As of 2020, the CEC is recognized and maintained by the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, in parallel with the new Free Trade Agreement of North America. The CEC brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including the general public, Indigenous people, youth, nongovernmental organizations, academia, and the business sector, to seek solutions to protect North America’s shared environment while supporting sustainable development for the benefit of present and future generations
The CEC is governed and funded equally by the Government of Canada through Environment and Climate Change Canada, the Government of the United States of Mexico through the Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, and the Government of the United States of America through the Environmental Protection Agency.