The Horizon Europe FOCI (www.project-foci.eu; Non-CO2 Forcers and Their Climate, Weather, Air Quality and Health Impacts; Sep 2022 – Aug 2026) project final meeting took place in a hybrid mode during 25-27 August 2026 (Prague, Czech Republic) at the premises of the Charles University. The project coordinators are Prof. Tomas Halenka (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) and Prof. Ranjeet Sokhi (University of Hertfordshire, Hartfield, United Kingdom). The FOCI consortium includes 17 Partners (from Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK) incl. 3 International Organizations – World Meteorological Organization, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and World Health Organisation. The event attended more than 40 persons, including both onsite and online.

FOCI project aimed to improve knowledge of individual and cumulative contribution of non-CO2 radiative forcers and their precursors. FOCI main goals focused on assessing impact of key radiative forcers, where and how they arise, processes of their impact on the Earth’s climate system.

The FOCI objectives are the following: (1) to examine and evaluate the climate relevant processes and feedback of anthropogenic primary and secondary radiative forcing species, natural aerosols and BVOCs based on new and available observations; (2) to integrate observational and modelling datasets and data products for improving and evaluating multiscale climate and atmospheric composition models; (3) to improve and evaluate Earth system, regional climate and atmospheric composition models; (4) to improve tailored emission inventories for non-CO2 radiative forcers and scenarios using innovative coupled modelling frameworks; (5) to undertake innovative and regionally relevant integrated analysis of optimised mitigation strategies, to support climate policy, deriving multiple benefits, quantifying sensitivity of climate system tipping points, meeting global challenge of stabilising global temperatures, and minimising the associated impacts on climate, weather, air quality and health; (6) to implement a global outreach, dissemination and stakeholder engagement strategy; (7) to guarantee efficient project implementation and delivery of its outcomes.

During 25-26 August 2026, the FOCI project was presented by the coordinators with overall overview/ progress of the project, followed by overview/ summaries of achievements and deviations from the plan of the FOCI WPs – (WP1): Processes controlling climate change impacts of anthropogenic non-CO2 species; (WP2): Processes controlling climate change impacts of natural non-CO2 species; (WP3): Improvements in Earth system modelling for climate applications; (WP4): Regional model improvement and evaluation for quantifying multiscale impacts of non-CO2 forcers; (WP5): Multiscale emissions processing and development of scenarios for model projections; (WP6): Multiscale projections to quantify contributions and impacts on climate, weather, air quality and health; (WP7):  Integrated analysis of innovative, optimised mitigation options to support climate policy; (WP8) Global dissemination, communication and engagement with stakeholders; and (WP9) Coordination – and followed by discussions on finalization of remaining deliverables.
On 27 August, the meeting continued with discussions on unresolved issues, final reporting to EU and review, and final summary.

The FOCI deliverables as reports: https://www.project-foci.eu/wp/deliverables
The FOCI related peer-reviewed publications: https://www.project-foci.eu/wp/publications
The FOCI at the international events/ conferences: https://www.project-foci.eu/wp/events

Text by: Alexander Mahura, INAR-UHEL