The Arctic is a delicate ecosystem that plays a vital role in maintaining stability in the global climate. Changes in the local climate could amplify global warming, with far-reaching consequences for the global environment, human health and well-being.

A range of air pollutants are driving changes in the Arctic region, including greenhouse gases, black carbon – a component of fine particulate matter – and ground-level ozone. These pollutants contribute to atmospheric warming, thus accelerating snow melting and exacerbating the effects of climate change in the Arctic.

Arctic Council countries – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States – play a central role in reducing air pollution in the Arctic. These countries have affirmed their support to collectively reduce black carbon emissions by 25-33% by 2025 from 2013 levels. In Arctic Council countries, around 18 million people live in areas where fine particle concentrations exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) safe air quality guidelines (10 µg/m3). Ambitious policy action to reduce emissions of a wide range of air pollutants, including black carbon, would reduce these negative health impacts and contribute to slowing down climate change in the Arctic. But how much would this cost and what would the impacts be on their economies and the health of the region’s populations?

This report sets out to answer these questions by providing a quantitative assessment of the biophysical and economic benefits of air pollution policies in Arctic Council countries. The analysis relies on a suite of modelling tools to project the impacts of increasingly ambitious policy action up to 2050, compared with business as usual.