Parts of India and China have much more black carbon soot in the air than earlier studies had shown. Black carbon is the charred remains of unburnt fossil fuels, biofuel, biomass and coal plants. The pollutant hangs in the air and is a health hazard. According to a new study, the presence of black carbon is twice or thrice more in parts of these countries than what previous studies had shown. The study uses new fuel consumption data from various sources to measure localised pollution levels, unlike previous studies which gave national figures and did not take regional differences into account. This methodology shows that the concentration of the pollutant worldwide is 130 per cent more than what was shown by earlier studies. Journal of Applied Ecology, January 19
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