The case for Gothenburg

The UN-ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, which last year celebrated its 25th Anniversary, marked the first international response to the concerns over the impacts of long range transportation of air pollution on human health and the environment.

This underlines the longstanding recognition that emissions from bordering countries can have potentially significant impacts on a given country’s ecosystems and the health of its citizens. This understanding underpins the more recent UN-ECE multi-pollutant, multi-effects ‘Gothenburg Protocol’ and the parallel European Union National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD).