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Chemicals, Environment, and Health: Accelerating transition towards toxic free planet

Chemicals bring benefits to our life and are key for innovation, trade, employment and economic growth worldwide. Yet, the production, use and disposal of hazardous chemicals, and products made with them, pose major impacts on the environment and human health. Thus, action is needed to prevent these risks, informed by science, guided by the ambition of the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC), Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs) and United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) resolutions, and empowered by the necessary capacities, finance and commitment and leadership by private and public sector. The Project aims to accelerate transition towards toxic free planet by minimizing the risks of hazardous chemicals and pollution on the environment and health. This will be achieved through a) fostering enabling conditions through policy support and partnership, b) generating, curating and maintaining information on key chemicals, and c) integrating principles of green and sustainable chemistry into high impact sectors. The project serves as the flagship initiative under the Programme of Work and is built upon the achievements of its predecessor, project “522.3. Generating and sharing knowledge for influencing decision-making on sound management of chemicals and waste.” (presented in Annex R). Moreover, it synergizes with and complements and enhances all other UNEP interventions, particularly those financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), by complementing their efforts in addressing chemicals and waste management challenges within high-impact sectors. The priority is given to the high impact sectors where either link with the chemicals agenda is well established (e.g. textiles, plastics), it needs to be strengthened (e.g. construction, mining) and/or those for which the Knowledge and Risk Unit (KRU) has unique expertise to lead the sector’s transformation towards green and sustainable chemistry path (e.g. electronics, pharma and cosmetics). The project is also guided by the global trends and processes including chemicals identified by the Global Chemicals Outlook (GCO) II, GFC (chemicals and issues of concern), UNEA Resolutions (e.g. lead, asbestos, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)) and MEAs (e.g. persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and mercury). Breaking silos and fostering linkages with the key processes and agendas are fundamental to the collaborative nature and success of the planned interventions. The activities are designed to contribute to the implementation of GFC strategic objectives and targets, as well as building up and leveraging linkages with the broader environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate change, and health agenda. The project will also act as an incubator for sectors relevant to pollution agenda that are not yet addressed by UNEP initiatives. The project outcome “Stakeholders are equipped to reduce harmful chemicals in products and processes” will be achieved through the following outputs: 1. Creating enabling conditions for effective global chemicals and waste management policies and implementation. 2. Maintaining knowledge and scientific foresight on chemicals. 3. Applying green and sustainable chemistry to high impact sectors. 4. Outreach and communication. Delivering these outputs will enable the project team to leverage its expertise and contribute to transition towards toxic free environment and values chains, through integrated approach. To successfully meet the project’s objective – minimizing the risks of hazardous chemicals and pollution on the environment and health – first the planned interventions will contribute to creation of the enabling conditions contributing to national policy and regulatory reforms. Additionally, the project will curate information and generate knowledge, mobilize stakeholders and provide policy analysis to inform global and regional processes aimed at reducing the environmental and health burden of pollution and chemicals (e.g. GFC and pollution framework), and on the other hand, to strengthen capacities of countries to translate international ambitions into concrete policy change and action. It will also provide a platform for application of the green and sustainable chemistry to high-impact sectors as a transformative approach to industrial practices, fostering a paradigm shift towards environmental responsibility and long-term sustainability. For those chemicals already addressed in MEAs or in the context of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) and the new GFC, there is a need to scale up implementing actions, particularly for those countries facing technical capacity gaps. For other chemicals / issues, while there is sufficient scientific evidence on their impact on human health and the environment to require and inform action, there is no international regulation, and this gap needs to be filled through either voluntary frameworks or through initiating efforts for improved regulation. F