UNEP prepares a global legally binding instrument on mercury

The first meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme - UNEPⁱ Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC1) – was convened with the mandate to elaborate a legally binding instrument on mercury. The meeting, held from 7-11 June 2010 in Stockholm, Sweden, was attended by over 400 participants representing governments, UN agencies, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. CEMBUREAU attended as a non-governmental organisation. Delegates at INC1 began work on the development of a legally binding instrument on mercury by engaging in initial exchanges of views on key elements of a convention.

Concerning atmospheric emissions, the so-called “Paragraph 29 Study” will focus on “top” mercury emitting countries and significant contributors to global mercury emissions in each sources category. Selected countries are: Brazil, China, India, the Russian Federation, South Africa, the United States of America, and the EU. The study will focus on largest sources categories. Cement kilns are included. CEMBUREAU and the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSIⁱ) joined forces to tackle this issue, and jointly launched a study carried out by the University of Liège (Belgium) with the aim of compiling worldwide data on the status of mercury emissions from cement kilns, sharing state of the art knowledge about mercury and its derivates behaviour in cement production processes, and defining best environmental practices in order to control and minimise mercury emissions from cement kilns through the use of integrated process optimisation (primary measures). The final report was issued in April 2010 and communicated to UNEP as an input to the “The Paragraph29 Study”.

INC1 was the first of five meetings anticipated to convene prior to the 27th session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum in 2013. INC2 will take place from 24-28 January 2011, in Chiba, Japan. Japan suggested naming the instrument “Minamata Convention on Mercury”. Delegates predicted that the substantive debate at INC2 would be dominated by atmospheric emissions. The most controversial substantive issue facing the INC process, however, is bound to be the unintentional mercury emissions caused by coal combustion.