NEW DATA ON AIR-POLLUTION IN THE FORMER SOVIET-UNION

The former Soviet Union was the world's second largest producer of har mful emissions. Total emissions in the USSR in 1988 were about 79% of the US total. Considering that the Soviet GNP was only some 54% of tha t of the USA, this means that the Soviet Union generated 1.5 times mor e pollution than the USA per unit of GNP. The governmental concerns ab out the size of USSR emissions were barely noticeable before the late 1980s; in the early 1990s the air pollution became an issue of great p ublic attention - its economic priority, however, was changing slowly. This paper analyses the changes in fuel consumption by the Soviet ind ustry during the last decade and makes available sets of data on air p ollution in the former Soviet Union between 1980 and 1991. The tempora l and spatial changes in emissions and ambient concentration of four m ajor pollutants (suspended particles, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide) are examined, and contributions of different bra nches of industry and transport are considered. The information was ob tained from the State Committee on Hydrometeorology and Environment (M oscow). Summary data are presented in the main paper; full details are given in the accompanying appendix.