Development of a high-resolution emissions inventory of carbonaceous particulate matters and their growth during 2011–2018 over India

The carbonaceous fine particulate matters (BC and OC) are of significant concern for air quality and climate change. A high-resolution (10 × 10 km2) gridded SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research) emission inventory of BC-OC has been developed for 2011 and 2018 over India using bottom-up Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based statistical model with the latest activity data and updated emission factors. The emission inventory accounted for major sectors like transport, residential, industries, Thermal Power Plant (TPP), and rest (Mobile towers, Irrigation pumps, Municipal solid waste burning, Waste to energy plants, Construction, Crematorium, Incense stick, Brick kiln). The total national BC and OC emissions for the latest year, 2018 are estimated to be 1480 Gg yr−1 and 3116 Gg yr−1, respectively. The most dominant sector is found to be the transportation sector for BC with 46% share, whereas the residential sector for OC with 39% share. An overall growth of 32% and 36% is estimated in 2018 compared to 2011 for BC and OC, respectively. The highest growth during the past 8 years is found in the transport sector whereas the residential sector has recorded the lowest growth rate. The latter is mainly due to a decline in kerosene oil, and domestic wood after the government introduced the ambitious Ujjwala scheme to replace bio-fuel with LPG. This high-resolution inventory of BC-OC will be helpful to policymakers in identifying the hotspot regions and prioritizing mitigation options, thus benefitting Human health and climate. The current gridded emissions will provide much-needed input for the regional chemistry transport models.