Environmental protection is one of the priorities of the Finnish Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. This one-day seminar in Helsinki brought together Finnish, German and French experts to present and discuss activities in the field of environmental research and environmental protection during the Finnish Chairmanship of the Arctic Council 2017-2019. Finnish, German and French experts summarized relevant national activities to identify possible synergies and to stimulate collaboration. The overall objective was to strengthen the German and French participation in the activities of the working groups of the Arctic Council in the field of environmental research (AMAP, CAFF and PAME) and to initiate collaborative activities with Finnish institutes.  Initially, the seminar concentrated on scientific cooperation but possible applications of German and French environmental technologies that would support concrete measures for environmental protection (ACAP) were discussed as well. The seminar was organized by the Finnish Environment Institute and Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Helsinki, French Embassy in Helskinki, the German Arctic Office at Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Potsdam, and the German Embassy in Helsinki.