The Arctic Council
AIR scientists participate regularly in expert groups of the Arctic Council, including the Task Force and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), and contribute to the policy reports of these groups. In particular, IIASA produced a series of emission and policy scenarios for Short-lived Climate Pollutants (SLCPs) that have been used in atmospheric transport and climate models to explore the potential benefits of emission controls. Based on this background information, the Arctic Council adopted at the Tenth Ministerial Meeting of the Arctic Council in Fairbanks (11 May 2017) a collective BC reduction goal 25-33% by 2025 compared to 2013.
IIASA contributions
Reports:
- Technical report of the Arctic Council Task Force on SLCPs: An Assessment of the Emissions and Mitigation Options for Black Carbon for the Arctic Countries (Arctic Council, May 2011)
- Recommendations to reduce Black Carbon and Methane Emissions to Slow Arctic Climate Change (Arctic Council, 2013)
- Black Carbon and Ozone as Arctic Climate Forcers - AMAP Assessment 2015 (2015) AMAP, Oslo
- Methane as an Arctic Climate Forcer - AMAP Assessment 2015 (2015) AMAP, Oslo
AIR scientists pointed out the potential role of emissions from flaring in the oil and gas industry. The early AIR estimates developed for the Arctic Council and UNEP (published later in Klimont et al (2017)) initiated a series of projects addressing the issue of measuring and estimating these emissions (Johnson eta al…., Weyant, …..Huang et al..), modelling their contribution (Stohl et al (2013) Winiger et al....) and linked them to the discussion of the methane emissions from oil and gas industry (Hoglund, et al, 2017; Dalorsen et al 2018)..
AIR has contributed to the joint report of the World Bank and ICCI: On Thin Ice - How Cutting Pollution Can Slow Warming and Save Lives (2013) presented at the COP19 in Warsaw.
In 2011, AIR scientists jointly with the Forestry project at IIASA produced a report for the Finish Prime Minister’s Office (The effects of climate change and abatement policies on the value of natural resources in Northern Europe and the Arctic Sea area, 2011. Prime Minister’s Office Reports 1/2011).
In 2018, the European Commission funded the so called EU Action on Black Carbon, an activity addressing key knowledge gaps with respect to black carbon in the Arctic. Topics include emissions, concentrations, mitigation opportunities, and scope for reporting. The action is coordinated by AMAP; AIR leads the development of new emission and policy scenarios as input for subsequent model analyses under AMAP. Results will be presented to the Arctic Council Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane.
PUBLICATIONS