GAINS and EMEP modelling in the Russian Federation: further developments at the regional level (GAINS Russia)

Since a substantial part of transboundary emissions in the Nordic countries are attributable to emission sources in the Russian Federation, it is important to involve Russian experts in the modelling work, to further build up technical capacity and to provide database maintenance and technical support for GAINS Russia and EMEP models used by Russian experts. There have already been project activities during 2008-2012 between SYKE, Swedish EPA and the Russian Ministry of Environment but the projects could not cover all interesting IAM aspects. Also new highly relevant policy issues have arisen (Gothenburg protocol). For the Arctic region, which includes a large part of the Russian territory, actions aimed at analysis and abatement of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), have become highly important. Producing emission inventories and modelling of SLCFs, black carbon in particular, became of high interest for both the Nordic community and Russian experts.

The purpose of the project is promoting and facilitating more active use of EMEP and GAINS Russia models by national experts in the Russian Federation, both in the international context and as a basis for developing internal Russian air pollution abatement strategies at the federal and regional levels. This purpose will be reached by further strengthening Russian experts’ capacity in GAINS and EMEP modelling by training and knowledge transfer activities. The main objectives of the project are emission data collection and verification for GAINS Russia regions, Gothenburg protocol scenario development and black carbon analysis in Russia region.

Further information

Research Engineer Mikko Savolahti,  Finnish Environment Institute SYKE, firstname.surname@ymparisto.fi
Air Pollution and Mitigation of Climate Change