Strengthening the capacities for Air Quality management in Montenegro
At the beginning of 2018 Techne Consulting concluded the activities of the contract with Ministry of Finance Montenegro about "Strengthening the capacities for Air Quality management in Montenegro".
The overall objective of the project funded by European Commission under "IPA 2014 National Programme Montenegro 2014" was to enhance Montenegro compliance with the requirements of the Air Quality (AQ) acquis through improved AQ monitoring and reporting.
The purpose of the activities was to provide technical support services and assistance in the first review of the Air Quality management zones and sampling points for fixed measurement which should be reviewed every five years according to the EU Directive 2008/50/EC in order to ensure that existing sampling points are representative enough and that automatic measurement is performed in all zones where it is required.
The project included expert support for redesign of AQ monitoring network and AQ zones on the basis of the detailed assessment of the existing AQ zones and AQ Monitoring network, using all available data including AQ modelling and visiting existing and potential sites.
EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook - 2019
On October, 17, a new 2019 Updated Air Pollutant Emission Inventory Guidebook version is published by EEA and EMEP. The joint EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook supports the reporting of emissions data under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive. It provides expert guidance on how to compile an atmospheric emissions inventory. The Guidebook is published by the EEA with the CLRTAP Task Force on Emission Inventories and Projections (TFEIP) responsible for the technical content of the chapters. Our Technical Director as co-leader of TFEIP Combustion and industry expert panel is the coordinator of several chapters of the Guidebook.
Air Pollution and Sustainable Development and planning conferences
The first results of the work of Techne Consulting in the ClairCity project were presented during the summer in two international conferences: Air Pollution 2018 in Naples and Sustainable Development and Planning 2018 in Siena. Both works were presented by our technical director and make a preliminary assessment of the activities carried out in the project.
In the conference Air Pollution 2018 a paper was presented entitled Air Pollutants Emissions and Carbon Footprint at City Level: the Claircity Project; in the paper the focus is on the activities of defining a methodology for assessing the emissions of air pollutants and Carbon Footprint and on the first results on the sample cities of Bristol and Amsterdam; in the paper the focus is on the dissemination activities of the project activities, and in particular on social networks strategies, with reference to the Liguria Region
In the conference Sustainable Development and Planning 2018 a paper was presented entitled Social Networks, Awareness And Behavioral Modification to Reduce Air Pollution and Carbon Footprint: The Claircity Project in Liguria Region.
Impacts of traffic to and from shopping centers
At the 23rd International Transport and Air Pollution Conference on May 15-17, 2019 in Thessaloniki a poster was presented that reports the results of the case study on the assessment of traffic impacts to and from shopping centers and on collective transport planning, carried out in the course of activities to support the preparation of the Regione Abruzzo Air quality management plan.
The conclusion of the work is that particular attention must be given to the aspects of mitigating the effects of the presence of centers. Priority should be given to the development of transport, especially rail, for shopping centers. The procedures relating to strategic environmental assessment must be applied to planning procedures for areas suitable for hosting large sales areas.
CLAiR-City in international conferences
In the frame of the European project Clair-City (Citizen Led Air pollution Reduction in Cities), funded by the European Commission in Horizon 2020 and led by a consortium of universities, research centers, public and international institutions and companies (including Techne Consulting) some results on the evaluation of the impact of current and future scenarios have recently been presented in two international conferences.
In particular, at the 19th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes held in Bruges in June the Impact Assessment on Air Quality the City of Bristol was presented while in the Air Pollution 2019 Conference 2019 in Aveiro a work was presented on the evaluation of the contributions of the different emissions sources on air quality in the city of Bristol.