China’s aerosol cleanup has contributed strongly to the recent acceleration in global warming

Global surface warming has accelerated since around 2010, relative to the preceding half century ^1-3 . This has coincided with China’s efforts to reduce air pollution through restricted atmospheric aerosol and precursor emissions ^4,5 . A direct link between the two has, however, not yet been established. Here we show, using a large set of simulations from eight Earth System Models, how a time evolving 75% reduction in Chinese sulfate emissions partially unmasks greenhouse driven warming and influences the pattern of surface temperature change. We find a rapidly evolving global, annual-mean warming of 0.07 ± 0.05 ºC, sufficient to explain a majority of the uptick in global warming rate since 2010. We also find North-Pacific warming and a top-of-atmosphere radiative imbalance that are consistent with recent observations. China’s aerosol cleanup is thus likely a key contributor to recent global warming acceleration, and to Pacific warming trends.