Ukraine and Finland are strengthening cooperation to develop a modern air quality monitoring system in Ukraine. In particular, during the visit of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine to Helsinki, the parties discussed the implementation of the future project “Ukrainian-Finnish Institutional Cooperation in the Field of Air Monitoring”.

The main objectives of the project are to modernise the air quality monitoring network in line with EU standards and to provide expert support for the further establishment of the National Reference Laboratory. In particular, it is planned to install observation points that collect air quality data in real time and use modern approaches to assessing this quality using modelling methods and satellite data.

The Ukrainian delegation also visited a reference laboratory in Finland and learned about the experience of using air quality modelling for operational monitoring and specific environmental management objectives.

In October 2023, during the International Conference “United for Justice. United for Nature”, Finland expressed its readiness to help Ukraine implement the project “Ukrainian-Finnish Institutional Cooperation in the Field of Air Monitoring” as part of the implementation of point 8 of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula. The project is currently being jointly finalised and will be submitted to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland for approval.

Strengthening cooperation with Finland in this area will allow Ukraine to move closer to the implementation of EU standards in the field of air quality and increase the capacity of government agencies to determine the impact of the war on air quality.