EU and China collaborate on air quality and climate change
Climate change and air pollution are two of the most pressing social challenges today, and their relationship to each other is a complex one. To address these challenges, decision-makers require comprehensive and scientifically sound information about the air we breathe. With this in mind, the EU funded the project AMIS (Fate and impact of atmospheric pollutants). The initiative's aim was to establish a research network focused on increasing understanding of the atmospheric chemical processes that affect air quality and climate change. AMIS brought together a multidisciplinary consortium of chemists, physicists, and modellers. This reflects the interdisciplinary nature of this research, which lies at the intersection of several disciplines such as physics, chemistry, engineering and meteorology. The new consortium comprised 14 partners: 9 from EU Member States and 5 from China. The partner research centres contributed skills in field monitoring, laboratory measurement and software modelling. AMIS conducted research into atmospheric chemistry and transformation and impact of persistent organic pollutants and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. It also investigated mineral dust aerosols, the use of photocatalytic materials on air quality and the evaluation of greenhouse gases emissions at the air/land interface in chosen Chinese and European sites. In addition, researchers participated in workshops, training programmes and international staff exchanges. Hence, training opportunities offered by the network and exposure to international leaders in the field of air quality and atmospheric pollutants will provide early-stage researches with significant career advantages. AMIS has therefore helped to promote global collaboration in atmospheric studies and address the looming challenge of climate change.
Keywords
Air quality, climate change, AMIS, atmospheric pollutants, persistent organic pollutants, polyaromatic hydrocarbons
