Previous Projects

Slowing Down Climate Change: Combining Climate Law and Climate Science to Identify the Best Options to Reduce Emissions of Short-lived Climate Forcers in Developing Countries

The ClimaSlow project opened new interdisciplinary horizons to identify the best opportunities to strengthen the global regulatory framework for reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), with particular attention to developing countries as projected key sources of future SLCP emissions. The project’s case study countries were China, India, Chile and Mexico.

In contrast to traditional legal analysis that would focus on one legal system or instrument, the project studied relevant legal and regulatory frameworks comprehensively, considering the international, regional, national and transnational levels. It identified various options to strengthen the global legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to SLCPs. In addition, this novel, comprehensive approach helped understand ongoing changes in the global legal landscape and further develop global climate change law as an emergent theoretical approach.

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

• Tuuli Miinalainen, Harri Kokkola, Antti Lipponen, Antti-Pekka Hyvärinen, Vijay Kuman Soni, Kari E.J. Lehtinen, and Thomas Kühn (2023). Assessing the climate and air quality effects of future aerosol mitigation in India using a global climate model combined with statistical downscaling, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 23, 3471–3491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3471-2023
• Tuuli Miinalainen, Harri Kokkola, Kari E. J. Lehtinen, and Thomas Kühn (2021). Comparing the Radiative Forcings of the Anthropogenic Aerosol Emissions From Chile and Mexico. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126, e2020JD033364. (Open Access).
• Tuula Honkonen (2020). Tackling Cookstove Emissions in India: Towards an Enabling Policy Environment and More Effective Legal Solutions. Law, Environment and Development Journal 16, 103-121. (Open Access).
• Veera Pekkarinen (2020). Going beyond CO2: Strengthening Action on Global Methane Emissions under the UN Climate Regime. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 29(3), 464-478. (Open Access).
• Thomas Kühn, Kaarle Kupiainen, Tuuli Miinalainen, Harri Kokkola, Ville-Veikko Paunu, Anton Laakso, Juha Tonttila, Rita Van Dingenen, Kati Kulovesi, Niko Karvosenoja and Kari E.J. Lehtinen (2020). Effects of Black Carbon Mitigation on Arctic Climate. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 20, 5527–5546. (Open Access).
• Kati Kulovesi, Michael Mehling and Elisa Morgera (2019). Global Environmental Law: Context and Theory, Challenge and Promise. Transnational Environmental Law 8(3), 405-435. (Open Access).
• Yulia Yamineva and Zhe Liu (2019). Cleaning the Air, Protecting the Climate: Policy, Legal and Institutional Nexus to Reduce Black Carbon Emissions in China. Environmental Science & Policy 95, 1-10. (Open Access).
• Yulia Yamineva and Seita Romppanen (2017). Is Law Failing to Address Air Pollution? Reflections on International and EU Developments. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 26(3), 189-200. (Open Access).

Special Issue

• Seita Romppanen and Yulia Yamineva (Eds.) (2017). Special Issue on International and EU Law on Air Pollution. Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 26(3).

Book Chapters

• Yulia Yamineva (2021). China in the Arctic: Climate agenda as a space for multilateral cooperation amidst great power competition. In research report ‘Nordic-Baltic connectivity with Asia via the Arctic: Assessing opportunities and risks’, by Estonian Foreign Policy Institute of the International Centre for Defense and Security, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Finnish Institute of International Affairs, September 2021.
• Sanna Kopra, Liisa Kauppila, Timo Koivurova, Adam Stepien and Yulia Yamineva (2020). China, Climate Change and the Arctic Environment. In Timo Koivurova and Sanna Kopra (Eds.), Chinese Policy and Presence in the Arctic. Leiden: Brill.
• Kati Kulovesi (2020). Exploring Transnational Legal Orders: Using Transnational Environmental Law to Strengthen the Global Regulation of Black Carbon for the Benefit of the Arctic Region. In Veerle Heyvaert and Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli (Eds.), Research Handbook in Transnational Environmental Law. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. (Open Access).

Policy Outputs

• Yulia Yamineva (2020). Reducing China’s Black Carbon Emissions: An Arctic Dimension. In China and its Arctic Trajectories: The Arctic Institute’s China Series Report.
• Yulia Yamineva (2019). Chapter 3 ‘Closing the Implementation Gap: Bringing Clean Air to the Region’. In UNEP (Ed.), Air Pollution in the Asia-Pacific: Science-based Solutions. Nairobi: UNEP.

Blog Posts

• Niklas Löther (2022). A brief history of short-lived climate pollutants in environmental science and governance. CCEEL Blog Post, 17 October 2022.
• Yulia Yamineva (2021). Cleaning the air, protecting the climate: Policy, legal and institutional nexus to reduce black carbon emissions in China. ACCC Blog Post, 24 May 2021.
• Veera Pekkarinen (2021). Using the Paris Agreement to Strengthen Action on Methane. IISD SDG Knowledge Hub Blog Post, 13 January 2021.
• Yulia Yamineva (2017). Time for a Holistic Approach to Climate Change and Air Pollution in International Law. Centre for Climate, Environmental and Energy Law Blog, October 2017.

Masters Thesis

• Niklas Löther, The long debate around short-lived climate pollutants : history of a policy concept and its impact on global and environmental governance, June 2022.

The WHITE project brings together a combination of law, atmospheric physics and environmental science to identify ways to strengthen the regulatory framework for reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) in the Arctic.

Why SLCPS in the Arctic?

Strengthening action on SLCPs could slow down climate change in the short-term while simultaneously improving local air quality and bringing health benefits, especially in sensitive regions like the Arctic. They include black carbon, methane, tropospheric ozone and some hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). According to estimates by the United Nations Environment Programme, reducing SLCP emissions could slow the rate of global climate change by 0.5°C by 2040, leaving more time for transitioning to a low-carbon economy.

The Arctic region is warming faster than the global average and the extent of Arctic sea ice has been declining dramatically. Recent research indicates that SLCPs, including black carbon and methane, contribute to Arctic warming. Without new controls, their emissions may increase driven, for example, by expanding economic activities in the Arctic. In addition to their warming impact, SLCFs are, in many cases, harmful air pollutants.

How did the WHITE project address this?

The project produced a comprehensive analysis of regulatory options for reducing SLCP emissions – black carbon and methane – in the Arctic regions on the basis of latest research on SLCP emission models and climate change impacts of the various regulatory options. The consortium was led by Kati Kulovesi, Professor of International Law, Law School, UEF. Sub-project leaders were Professor Kari Lehtinen from the UEF Department of Applied Physics, Dr Kaarle Kupiainen from the Finnish Environment Institute-SYKE and Dr Ismo Pölönen from the UEF Law School.

Publications

• Khan, Sabaa. The Global Commons Through a Regional Lens: The Arctic Council on Short-Lived Climate Pollutants. In Transnational Environmental Law, 2016.
• Savolahti M., Karvosenoja N., Tissari J., Kupiainen K., Sippula O. & Jokiniemi J. 2016. Black carbon and fine particle emissions in Finnish residential wood combustion: Emission projection, reduction measures and the impact of combustion practices. Atmospheric Environment 140 (2016) 495-505. DOI: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2016.06.023 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231016304551
• Yamineva, Yulia, and Kati Kulovesi. Keeping the Arctic White: The Legal Landscape for Reducing Short-lived Climate Pollutants in the Arctic Region and Opportunities for Its Future Development. Transnational Environmental Law 7 (2) 201-227. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102517000401
• Khan, Sabaa.  Connecting Human Rights and Short-Lived Climate Pollutants: The Arctic Angle. Chapter 27 in Routledge Handbook of Human Rights and Climate Governance. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315312576-27/connecting-human-rights-short-lived-climate-pollutants-sabaa-khan