ICCA in Geneva: engaging stakeholders, reporting progress
Chemicals management is an increasingly important part of ICCA’s raison d’être, and the second International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) held in May 2009 was a landmark event for our organization. ICCA fielded a strong delegation, joining around 800 other participants at ICCM-2 in Geneva, Switzerland representing over 150 governments, 20 intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and 60 non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The turnout of a number of CEOs representing companies from key chemical producing countries worldwide, together with the heads of the industry associations of Australia, America, Europe, Japan and South Africa, helped reinforce our commitment to the SAICM process. Speaking to the high-level plenary (please see video ), ICCA President Christian Jourquin restated that commitment, adding: ‘Our voluntary efforts imply impressive in kind contributions demonstrating to governments, intergovernmental organizations and the public that our industry is a reliable, willing and responsible partner in meeting global sustainability objectives.’ He also noted that ‘ICCA believes a balanced combination of government regulations and voluntary industry programs is the best way to achieve sustainable development, and, as part of that, the safe management of chemicals.’
During the week-long meeting, ICCA staged two well-attended side events while industry representatives also took part in high-level panel discussions on financing and health. Visitors were welcomed to ICCA’s exhibition booth which featured a number of materials including the ICCA Progress Report detailing chemical management efforts worldwide since the adoption of SAICM in 2006, and setting out industry’s future plans. ICCA’s 2008 Responsible Care Status Report provided more detailed information on our signature performance initiative including important performance reporting data. Both publications featured efforts aligned to the five SAICM policy objectives: risk reduction, knowledge and information, governance, capacity-building and technical cooperation, and prevention of illegal international traffic. A movie was made at this occasion thanks to the contribution of ICCA member companies and associations (please see video).
ICCM-2 confirmed SAICM’s status as a voluntary and inclusive multi-stakeholder process. Progress was achieved on various procedural aspects that strengthen the SAICM framework and will enable it to focus on more substantive issues going forward. Policy outcomes, especially on financing and emerging issues, were in line with ICCA’s broad objectives, and are not expected to result in significant additional burdens being placed on industry.
Challenges mixed with praise
At ICCA’s high-level side event (please see video), industry leaders on the panel – which included IGO and NGO representatives, prompting Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to describe it as an ‘extraordinary moment’ – faced some tough questioning. The panel session provided industry with an opportunity to respond and to present the increasingly broad range of SAICM-related activities driven by ICCA’s Global Product Strategy (GPS) and Responsible Care® Global Charter to between 150-200 participants. The UNEP head congratulated industry on organizing the roundtable with representatives of such divergent interests. He challenged industry to do more but said: ‘Chemicals are part of our lives and will continue to be a part of our lives…The world would be poorer off without chemicals, take that as a given.’
The resources that our industry is putting into implementing the GPS and the Global Charter at the company, national, regional and international level are a clear sign of its engagement in the SAICM process. ICCA has directly addressed the challenge of improving chemicals management in developing countries and with SMEs through capacity building activities, the provision of training, sharing best practices, and engaging with the authorities. These activities helped earn a Bronze Award from UNEP for ICCA’s valuable contribution to SAICM implementation – a contribution we intend to strengthen and build on as we move forward (please see video).
ICCA participated actively in plenary and in all contact groups including on the contact group on the issue of reporting, and held a side-event dedicated to this topic. The outcome of the resolution on modalities of reporting is consistent with ICCA’s proposal, and we believe we are well placed to report effectively on progress at ICCM-3 using our Responsible Care metrics. At the ICCA side event, we had positive feedback on a demonstration of how companies and other stakeholders might meet SAICM reporting requirements using those metrics and ICCA has been requested to lead a pilot project on SAICM reporting.
Industry was complimented for its willingness to engage with critics, the presence of so many industry leaders, and its efforts on performance reporting. Achim Steiner also noted: ‘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. I am looking forward to a new level of cooperation with industry.’
In the weeks after Geneva, we are looking closely at the outcomes and additional challenges for the ICCA agenda. Throughout ICCM-2, ICCA argued that the extensive focus on emerging issues had the potential to detract from what should be the real focus: SAICM implementation and measuring progress towards the 2020 goal.
Under the SAICM spotlight
ICCM-2 included an ‘omnibus resolution’ on four emerging policy issues with specific actions on nanomaterials, chemicals in products, lead in paint and electronic waste. Projects or partnerships will be managed by intergovernmental organizations such as UNEP, OECD and the World Health Organization (WHO). Perfluorinated chemicals, while not part of the resolution, have also been flagged up for special attention by ICCM. ICCA and several other stakeholders had concerns with the process that led up to consideration of emerging issues at ICCM-2, and was involved in developing an improved process for the future.
Read more about ICCA position on nanomaterials ►