'Reduce soot to reduce global warming'

London, Jan 4: Nasa scientists have said that global warming can be slowed dramatically by slashing emissions of one of humanity's most familiar pollutants - soot.

According to a study by the space agency, cutting down on the pollutant, can have an immediate cooling effect - and thus prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from air pollution at the same time, reports the Independent.

The study has been published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The study, from Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, has concluded that tackling the pollution provides "substantial benefits for air quality while simultaneously contributing to climate change mitigation" and "may present a unique opportunity to engage parties and nations not yet fully committed to climate change mitigation for its own sake."

Black carbon, the component of soot that gives it its colour, is thought to be the second largest cause of global warming after carbon dioxide.

ANI