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Members of the global chemical industry and the United Nations recently convened in Geneva, Switzerland, along with more than 800 representatives from 150 governments, 90 non-governmental organizations and 47 intergovernmental organizations, to tackle the topic of international chemicals management. The meeting provided an opportunity for the industry to report its collective progress in fulfilling its obligations to the United Nations Environment Program's Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), and its goal to ensure safe global chemicals management by 2020.
Referred to as the Second Session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM-2), outcomes from this historic event demonstrate that the global chemical industry has made significant progress in meeting its commitments to improving international chemicals management practices and engaging with government, the public and other stakeholders. The event also demonstrated Dow's leadership in helping to establish global product stewardship guidelines and chemicals management best practices around the globe.
"Chemical products provide many benefits to society, and they must be managed responsibly," said David Kepler, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer at Dow, who addressed the industry's actions to improve transparency of chemical product safety information and accountability for product stewardship. "The global chemical industry has made substantial progress in implementing its product stewardship commitments under the UN's Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management, but there is still much work to do."
The widely attended event, culminated in several senior-level roundtable discussions with Dow's Kepler participating in a CEO panel with other chemical industry leaders to discuss the industry's chemicals management initiatives and recent results. Joining the panel was Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and leaders from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and two environmental non-governmental organizations, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN).
During the past 18 months, Dow and BASF have co-chaired efforts within the International Council of Chemistry Associations (ICCA) to continue the advancement of chemicals management initiatives, including the industry's Responsible Care® Global Charter and Global Product Strategy, voluntary chemical industry initiatives designed to strengthen product stewardship within the chemical industry and with its customers throughout the chain of commerce.
Members of ICCA have been engaged for decades in industry-driven activities to improve product stewardship. They include crucial initiatives such as Responsible Care®, the High Production Volume (HPV) testing program, and the Long- range Research Initiative (LRI) to strengthen the scientific basis for public policy. Since the launch of the Responsible Care Global Charter and the Global Product Strategy two years ago, the industry has achieved additional success, including:
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Defining and adopting a "base set of information" adequate to conduct chemical safety assessments.
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Developing a set of universal product stewardship guidelines for use by companies globally, to accelerate the implementation of their chemical management programs.
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Providing capacity building projects in a number of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, especially in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America, to implement the best safety assessment practices and risk management procedures.
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Doubling the number of global company CEOs committed to the Responsible Care Global Charter and Global Product Strategy to more than 150.
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Extending the Responsible Care network to include Russia, and other countries in Eastern Europe; established a pilot project with Chinese national companies; and is exploring an initiative in the Gulf region.
While communicating the industry's progress was a main objective, other significant outcomes of ICCM-2 included the strengthening of the SAICM framework through new procedures and institutional mechanisms. In addition, the policy recommendations resulting from ICCM-2, especially related to financing and emerging issues, were focused on practical and achievable outcomes. One example is the development of a UNEP-led project to assess existing information systems on chemicals in products and develop recommendations for future considerations by SAICM.
Achim Steiner believes the industry's commitment to SAICM and its progress on its Global Product Strategy was effectively demonstrated. "The fact that nine CEOs of the global chemical industry were together in one place at the SAICM ICCM-2 conference was the strongest sign of commitment I have seen in a long time," said Steiner. "I am looking forward to a new level of cooperation with Industry."
As ICCM2 concluded, participants were optimistic that they had laid the groundwork for a successful intersessional period leading up to ICCM3 in 2012. By taking action on emerging issues and establishing sound processes both for the review and selection of emerging issues, ICCM2 demonstrated that SAICM could truly contribute to global chemical safety.
Looking forward, ICCM-2 participants re-committed to working with industry and across all stakeholders to achieve collaborative progress in key areas: implementing the
Responsible Care® Global Charter (RCGC) and Global Product Strategy (GPS), ensuring SAICM remains a voluntary, multi-stakeholder forum and that its policy outcomes are practical and focused.
Dow believes the path to a sustainable future is built with chemistry.
"By demonstrating that essential chemicals are manufactured, handled and used in a safe and environmentally-sound manner throughout their life cycles, the industry will help ensure its products continue to be available to meet next-generation needs," added Bond. "The outcomes and collaborations at ICCM-2 further resolve our commitment to help realize the goals of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management."
Dow believes the most effective chemicals management performance can be achieved through a combination of regulation and industry-driven initiatives, and advocates for a balanced approach. To learn more, visit the ICCA website, the SAICM website or www.dow.com.
Responsible Care® is a registered service mark of the American Chemistry Council.
