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National reports from Arctic States and Observer States to the Arctic Council

Prompted by the climate and human health impacts of black carbon and methane emissions, the Ministers of the Arctic Council decided to take action. In April 2015, the eight Arctic States adopted the “Enhanced Black Carbon and Methane Emissions Reductions: An Arctic Council Framework for Action”. In the Framework, Arctic States commit to taking “enhanced, ambitious, national and collective action to accelerate the decline in our overall black carbon emissions and to significantly reduce our overall methane emissions.” At their 2017 meeting the Ministers of the Arctic States adopted an Expert Group report that recommended a collective, aspirational goal to further reduce black carbon emissions by 25-33 percent relative to 2013 levels by 2025.

As part of the Framework, Arctic States and various Arctic Council Observer States submit biennial national reports on their existing and planned actions to reduce black carbon and methane, national inventories of these pollutants and, if available, projections of future emissions. To help implement these commitments, the Framework established an Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane. The Expert Group was tasked with developing a biennial “Summary of Progress and Recommendations” based on the national reports and other relevant information.

The national reports display a wide range of national policies, action plans and mitigation strategies by key sectors both in Arctic States, as well as in Arctic Council Observer States. They also highlight best practices and lessons learned, and feature especially interesting projects, successes and cases relevant for the Arctic. On the Arctic Black Carbon Case Studies Platform, the national reports are geolocated in the capital of the respective State, and marked with a [eg. yellow TBC] pin.

You can also find all the national reports directly on the Arctic Council Open Access Archive: https://oaarchive.arctic-council.org/handle/11374/1167