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Black carbon (BC) is an air pollutant with significant impacts on our health and climate. Resulting from incomplete combustion processes, it is part of fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) and estimated to have a warming impact on climate that is 460–1,500 times greater than that of carbon dioxide (…
When scientists in the 1960s investigated the causes of the die-back of forests, the so-called ‘Waldsterben’, and acidification of lakes with associated fish loss, they found that air pollution, often emitted thousands of kilometres away, was the culprit. This research formed the basis for the…
Progress in reducing emissions of key air pollutants has been uneven across the UNECE region over the past few decades. To create a level playing field across the region, the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol), a unique instrument to reduce…
Air Convention Task Force discusses impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on air quality in the UNECE region
One year after the first COVID-19 lockdown in many parts of the UNECE region, scientists and experts are studying the effects of lockdown measures on air quality. A study from Germany showed that while levels of nitrogen oxides (NO2) measured at urban stations decreased during the lockdown in…
To reduce transmission of the novel coronavirus, Governments in the UNECE region introduced social distancing and other measures, which have often included restrictions on the freedoms of assembly and of movement. Consequently, there has been an impact on procedural rights of public participation…
Systemic deficiencies with regard to access to information, decision-making or compliance with environmental law can seriously threaten successful implementation of circular and green economy and sustainable development. Taking a case to court to advance a widely shared public interest remains an…
A new working paper, Adapting household surveys to the situation of the pandemic, shows that statistical producers in countries in the UNECE region have moved fast to measure the effects of the pandemic on households, and to adapt data collection to crisis conditions; but they need support for…
Sound emission inventories are the first step for designing effective clean air policies as they provide information about the main sources and the most acute air pollution problems in a country.
Under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution(Air Convention), UNECE has therefore…
Knowing where exactly air pollutant emissions are coming from in a given country is important to make viable policy decisions.
As a result of integrated air pollution management strategies developed under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention…
New guidance published by UNECE’s Conference of European Statisticians offers support to national statistical offices to better communicate their statistics about gender equality. The guidance, developed by a task force of experts from across the region, focuses on six themes: the gender pay gap;…
UNECE is supporting Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine to further enhance strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and transboundary environmental impact assessment (EIA) to prevent and mitigate damage to the environment and health from economic growth. A…
Risk is a part of our everyday lives. When we wear a helmet to ride a bike, for example, we accept a small inconvenience to reduce the risk of a fall or an accident. When a homeowner decides to retrofit their house, they incur a cost to shield against an earthquake or a flood. Faced with the COVID…
UNECE and the European Union continue to support pilot applications of the Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) in Belarus and Georgia in the framework of the European Union Water Initiative Plus programme for the Eastern Partnership Countries (EUWI+). SEA is an essential planning tool for…