IN A bizarre twist to the climate change saga, cutting smog in industrialised nations is actually accelerating global warming.
In the past half-century, say climate scientists, rising levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide have warmed the Earth. But a corresponding increase in smog particles has shaded the planet, partly offsetting the warming. The net effect has been a global warming of almost 0.5 °C since 1960.
This was despite the fact that the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth’s surface declined by about 5 per cent between 1960 and 1990 – easily explained by rising levels of aerosol particles…
