“Northern Dimension Future Forum on Environment: Black carbon and Climate Change in the European Arctic” today in Brussels

“Northern Dimension Future Forum on Environment: Black carbon and Climate Change in the European Arctic” is organised today in Brussels. Veli-Pekka Tynkkynen is taking part in “Knowledge Arena 2: Actions in Practice” session of the forum, giving a talk “How to reduce black carbon emissions in Russia’s oil and gas industry?”

We are the big buyers of Russian energy. Energy security could be boosted via eco-responsibility certificates. @AKA_ohjelmat @Akatemia_STN #NDFutureForum @ND_Institute #ClimateChange pic.twitter.com/pFbcMlJFaT

— Riitta Kosonen (@riitta_kosonen) 19 ноября 2018 г.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising clearly faster than the global average temperatures. Thus, also black carbon, that may cause some 20-25% of the warming in the Arctic, has received special attention by the Arctic Council and the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership. In addition to its global warming impacts, black carbon is detrimental to human
and ecosystem health. Important sources of black carbon include transport, residential burning of coal and biomass, oil and gas flaring, and open burning of biomass.
Because black carbon remains in the atmosphere only for days or weeks, emission reductions produce positive results fast. Furthermore, many technological solutions to curb emissions already exist. In addition to the activities of the Arctic Council, there are also other international and regional initiatives aiming at reducing black carbon emissions such as the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030.
This event brings together researchers, businesses and policy makers to discuss how countries and actors in the European Arctic are tackling this common challenge and what they could do more.

More information on the event is available here.