The funds will be channelled into the Arctic Council’s Project Support Instrument (PSI), which is administered by the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO). The purpose of the PSI, which was established by the Arctic Council in 2005, is to finance pollution preventing initiatives in the Arctic region.

The Russian government agreed to the financial package at a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday. The agreement means that Russia is now the biggest financial contributor to the Arctic Council’s PSI. The Arctic Council PSI is a voluntary financing instrument open to contributions from the Arctic Council members, observers and other interested parties. The Arctic Council includes permanent member states of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Island, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States of America;  permanent representations of the arctic indigenous people and observers such as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.

“We want the Arctic to be clean. The Russian Federation has launched an extensive clean-up initiative to address environmental legacies impacting the Arctic. We have 194 hotspots  in all Russian territory  including the Arctic to address and we welcome cooperation with NEFCO, not only on financing of the Arctic initiatives but also on exchange of knowledge and opinions, and appropriate technology transfer”, expressed the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, Yuri Trutnev.

 “We are extremely delighted with the fact that the Russian government is taking an active role in supporting environmental protection in the Arctic region. The financial boost provided under this agreement will enable us to finance a wide range of environmental projects in the Russian Arctic within the near future”, said NEFCO’s Managing Director, Magnus Rystedt. 

The PSI is to give priority to Arctic Council projects related to pollution prevention, abatement and elimination of release of hazardous substance such as persistent organic pollutants, mercury and to projects that enable mitigation of climate change. The PSI will finance project preparation activities and implementation of demonstration projects, including supplies of equipment and services. NEFCO will be the implementing agency for financing such projects based on tangible proposals put forward by the Arctic Council.

For more information, please contact:
Nuritdin Imanov, Director, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation, +7 499  766 26 72
Magnus Rystedt, Managing Director, NEFCO, +358 50 329 6224
Husamuddin Ahmadzai, Special Adviser, NEFCO, +358 50 520 0288