Air pollution is a major risk factor for public health in urban and rural areas and leads to an increase in premature deaths. Obtaining reliable and timely information about air quality contributes to knowledge-based national policymaking process in line with the SEIS principles. Atmospheric air monitoring data are used to control and assess the impact of air pollution on the environment and public health.

Building capacity in using and accessing air quality data is a part of the ENI SEIS II East project. The objective is to increase the use and public accessibility of air quality measurement data in accordance with the EU Air Quality Directive. The first regional workshop on air quality monitoring kicked off this process for the Eastern Partnership countries in September 2018 (Copenhagen) and the second regional workshop took place in November 2019 (Tbilisi). In 2019, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine in the framework of fulfilling the environmental obligations of the association agreement with the EU, developed with the participation of the ENI SEIS II East project a procedure for state air monitoring. The government’s decision completely revised the old monitoring system, changed the approach to form a network of observation and assessment of atmospheric air quality, clearly defined the functions of the monitoring entities, revised mandatory indicators and regimes, introduced a mechanism for mandatory regular information and developed long-term action plans.

The team of experts from the EEA, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, 4sfera and Ukrainian experts from the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection, the State Emergency Service, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center, the Central Geophysical Laboratory and the Donetsk regional administration evaluated the status of air quality monitoring in terms of legal and institutional frameworks. They reviewed the existing information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and monitoring system. The focus was on quality assurance and data processing, dissemination and final reporting. These experts evaluated and identified existing air quality data from Ukraine and identified possibilities for disseminating and reporting the data, taking EU Air Quality Directive 2008/50 as the baseline reference.

The EEA team installed the information technology platform RAVEN+ on a server at the Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection and trained national experts on using the software. The tool is currently used by national and local authorities.

The SEIS project has developed the potential of national and local authorities in Ukraine to collect information on air quality and transfer data to the EEA.