"Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is a more potent atmospheric pollutant than previously thought, according to a four-year international study released on Tuesday."

"Emitted by diesel engines, brick kilns and wood-fired cookstoves, black carbon is second only to carbon dioxide as the most powerful climate pollutant, according to the study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.

But because black carbon only lasts in the atmosphere a matter of days, compared to carbon dioxide's atmospheric endurance of centuries, addressing it could be prime target for curbing global warming, the report said.

'This new research provides further compelling evidence to act on short-lived climate pollutants, including black carbon,' Achim Steiner, chief of the United Nations Environment Program, said in a statement."

Deborah Zabarenko reports for Reuters January 16, 2013. [2]