At the fourth meeting of the Arctic Council's Task Force for Action on Black Carbon and Methane, delegates reviewed and discussed regional, national and international mitigation actions for possible inclusion in the final report to the Ministerial meeting in 2015.
9 June 2014: At the fourth meeting of the Arctic Council’s Task Force for Action on Black Carbon and Methane, delegates reviewed and discussed regional, national and international mitigation actions for possible inclusion in their final report to the Ministerial meeting in 2015.
The Task Force met from 21-22 May 2014, in Helsinki, Finland, to continue its work on short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), with the aim of catalyzing action that will mitigate near-term warming in the Arctic and the effects of black carbon on Arctic residents. The meeting adressed the Arctic States’ intersessional progress, ideas for peer-learning systems to share knowledge and best practices and a template for reporting member States’ actions to reduce emissions.
The Task Force also discussed how to best capitalize on the Arctic Council’s value-added in carrying out cooperative emissions-reducing measures without duplicating work being advanced on the same issues under other initiatives.
The Task Force emphasized the importance of contributions from observers, several of which attended the meeting. The Arctic Contaminants Action Program (ACAP) and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), both Arctic Council groups working on SLCPs, also attended the meeting.
Canada and Sweden Co-Chair the Task Force. The Arctic Council consists of the eight Arctic States: Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the US. The Task Force is mandated to develop actions to achieve enhanced black carbon and methane emission reductions in the Arctic. [Arctic Council Press Release]