Parties agreed on frameworks to halve health and ecosystem impacts by 2040, but static population assumptions could limit ambition, particularly for the EU.
The Executive Body (EB) of the UNECE Air Convention met in Geneva on 8–11 December 2025 for its forty-fifth session, with the ongoing revision of the Gothenburg Protocol high on the agenda. Two years after launching the revision process, and one year after adopting a roadmap, Parties discussed key political and technical elements that will shape the future of the Protocol.
Discussions covered methane, black carbon, ammonia, new emission reduction commitments for pollutants already regulated under the Protocol, technical annexes, and possible collective goals related to health and biodiversity.
There was broad agreement among Parties on the importance of methane as a precursor to ground-level ozone, and most delegations also highlighted its role in climate change, a link that the United States did not endorse. Several delegations referred to voluntary initiatives such as the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 per cent below 2020 levels by 2030. However, civil society warned against relying too heavily on non-binding approaches.
Kevin Hicks from the Stockholm Environment Institute urged Parties not to disregard the extensive scientific and technical work carried out under the Convention and related processes. He called for “meaningful emission reduction commitments, accompanied by the necessary technical annex, to reduce methane emissions – going beyond the Global Methane Pledge voluntary action which does not have any obligation for results.”
On black carbon, Parties agreed that further action is needed and expressed support for including mandatory reporting in the revised Protocol. The Executive Body requested the Working Group on Strategies and Review to continue discussions on proposals to introduce collective goals for black carbon and methane at its next meeting.
Ammonia emissions, largely driven by agriculture, also featured prominently. While the Executive Body agreed that more action was needed on ammonia and noted that the potential for further reduction exists; disagreements emerged over how binding the technical guidance should be. The United Kingdom argued that the technical annex related to agricultural sources should have the status of voluntary guidance, particularly for Parties to the Protocol. Other delegations stressed the importance of maintaining it as a formal technical annex, pointing to the significant remaining potential for ammonia reductions and the need for clear, enforceable guidance.
The Executive Body also adopted one new and two updated guidance documents to support implementation of the Protocol. The new guidance on non-technical measures highlights the mitigation potential of structural and behavioural changes in areas such as residential heating, mobility and food consumption, helping countries identify additional pathways to meet their Gothenburg Protocol commitments. In addition, revised guidance was adopted on control techniques for emissions from stationary sources, alongside the adoption of updated guidance document on national nitrogen budgets, with a call for data
During the meeting, initial frameworks were agreed for calculating future emission reduction targets across the region. The overarching objective is to halve impacts on ecosystems and human health across the entire UNECE region by 2040, using 2015 as the base year. The calculations will be assume a static population, meaning that demographic changes – including population ageing over the coming decades – are not taken into account, despite their implications for health impacts.
For the European Union, this approach is likely to result in relatively modest new commitments compared with a continuation of current legislation. One way to increase ambition at a later stage of the negotiations, while retaining the same calculation framework, would be to raise the target to a 60 per cent reduction.
For ecosystem impacts, a key unresolved issue is whether “halving” refers to reducing impacts on the most sensitive ecosystems (a minimum-based approach) or on ecosystems of medium sensitivity (a median-based approach). The former would imply significantly more stringent emission reduction commitments, particularly for ammonia.
While the meeting confirmed broad political support for strengthening the Gothenburg Protocol, debates over ambition are expected to remain challenging in the year ahead. An agreement on the revised Protocol is not anticipated before the end of 2027, and could be delayed until 2028.
