Dmitry Chernyshenko: "A Carbon Polygon Was Opened in the Urals"

13:20, November 2, 2021

The site was officially launched on October 29

In the Sverdlovsk region on the basis of the Kourovka Astronomical Observatory of the Ural Federal University opened the carbon polygon "Ural-Carbon". It was created under a pilot project of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education as part of the national action plan for climate change adaptation until 2022.

"This is the second carbon polygon that we open in Russia within the pilot project of the Ministry of Education and Science. At the same time, we are training personnel to work on them. Let me remind you that additional educational programs have been launched at universities. The specialists at this polygon will also take part in them. Moreover, the staff at the Urals polygon will work in close cooperation with the world-class nature center, as well as scientists from leading Urals universities and businesses. This will make it possible to achieve synergy and the most effective results," said Dmitry Chernyshenko, the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The Ural Carbon Polygon consists of two sites with the total area of more than 300 hectares. The main site is located at the Kourovka observatory. The infrastructure necessary for studying the issues of carbon neutrality was created there, modern research equipment, pulsation and fixed chamber systems for measuring the flows of greenhouse gases were installed, laboratories and classrooms were created.

The Ministry of Education and Science noted that the facility is unique due to the specifics of the region: the Urals has many taiga forests that reserve carbon runoff from the atmosphere, as well as industrial enterprises interested in environmental well-being and the early launch of carbon farms.

"Today we are launching another important element of the national carbon monitoring system. I expect that in the near future the carbon farm in the Sverdlovsk region will enter a continuous mode for remote and ground-based measurements of the carbon balance and building digital maps of the ecosystems under study. The Ural region is one of the most important mining and metallurgical clusters of the country. That is why Ural-Carbon Polygon has a special responsibility. It is necessary to offer mining, metallurgical and other energy-intensive enterprises of the region a set of unique technologies which will be able not only to remove the accumulated CO2 from the atmosphere but also compensate for the carbon footprint or the emission of greenhouse gases," said Valery Falkov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

The Ural-Carbon program became part of the activities of the world-class Ural Interregional Research and Education Center. It was joined by members of the UIREC, scientists and specialists from Ural Federal University, the Ural Forestry, Mining and Agrarian Universities, specialized institutes of the regional branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Botanical Garden. The project is also supported by large industrial enterprises of the Sverdlovsk region.