News

ICCA representatives meet with Erik Solheim at UNEA-3

Martin Kayser, BASF and co-chair Chemicals Policy and Health Leadership Group and Alexa Burr of ACC held a successful meeting with three members of the United Nations Environment Agency at the UN office in Nairobi at the start of December: Erik Sohleim, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme; Ligia Noronha, Director, Economy Division, UN Environment and Jacob Deuer, Chief, Chemicals and Health Branch.

Mr Solheim was supportive of ICCA’s cooperation with UN Environment, emphasing both the current joint projects and financial contribution.  He underlined the importance of UN Environment working with innovative industries in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In particular Erik Solheim stated the need to improve the communication of sound science and innovation to the […]

OPCW Director-General addresses ICCA Board meeting

Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) addressed the ICCA Board meeting in Vienna in October.

Delivering a statement entitled ‘Twenty Years of the OPCW: its Achievements, Future Outlook and Cooperation with Industry” Ambassador Üzümcü described the partnership with the chemical industry as a pillar of OPCW’s success and emphasized that building bridges with organizations such as ICCA was vital to their future endeavors.

At a time when OPCW activities are shifting from verifying the destruction of chemical weapons to preventing their re-emergence, Ambassador Üzümcü encouraged industry representatives to consider new perspectives, saying, “Our partnership with the chemical industry has been a pillar of that success and building bridges with institutions such as the ICCA […]

ICCA addresses OPCW Conference of State Parties

Marco Mensink addressed the OPCW Conference of State Parties in the Hague at the end of November.  Speaking in his capacity as Council Secretary of the International Council of Chemical Associations he praised the OPCW for the excellent work it was undertaking, and voiced his appreciation of the positive partnership and cooperation between the two organizations in ensuring that chemicals are not used for prohibited purposes.

Stressing that the creation of a trustful partnership was invaluable for relations between national authorities and industrial players as well as for ICCA and the OPCW secretariat, Marco Mensink highlighted the successful capacity building programme carried out during 2017. 18 chemical plant sites from 15 member states hosted participants for a three week training with […]

OPCW elects new Director-General

Ambassador Fernando Arias Gonzalez of Spain will be the new Director-General of OPCW for the period 2018-22.  His appointment was ratified at the Conference of the State Parties of the OPCW in the Hague at the end of November.

Ambassador Arias was the victor in three successive votes, securing an increasingly larger margin over six other candidates.  His election provides continuity to the work carried out by Spain on the United Nations Security Council from 2015-16, particularly in the field of non-proliferation and disarmament.

OPCW, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013, was set up in 2013 by the State Parties of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  The Convention, whose State Parties number 192, accounting for 98% […]

New animation illustrates chemical industry’s potential contribution to a low-carbon world

ICCA has created a short film elaborating how the intelligent use of chemicals can help avoid CO² emissions throughout the life cycle of many products and industries.  The film is part of a package of new materials including guidelines, case studies (summaries and technical documents) and ICCA/WBCSD guidance on the measurement of avoided emissions

“Measuring how chemicals contribute to our low-carbon future” is a three-minute animation which focuses on the importance of measuring how chemicals can contribute to avoid emissions across a series of key applications –  buildings, transport, renewable power and food packaging – in a full life cycle perspective.

The animation also presents the findings of the study on global avoided emissions figures potentially achievable by 2030, carried out earlier this year by leading international […]

‘Associate member’ established as new ICCA membership category

The ICCA membership approved a new limited membership status of ‘Associate Member’ during its recent series of meetings in Vienna at the end of October.

Associate membership offers an interim phase for observer members who find the immediate transition to full member status too large a step.  It allows for thorough discussions before achieving full membership, with three elements to be addressed during the transitional period: financial contribution, CEO participation and Responsible Care.

The general framework sets out the structure and conditions for lifting observer members into full membership status.  A “one size fits all” approach is accompanied by tailor-made annexes that define the criteria and process towards full membership.  They take into account the level of commitment and progress of each […]

JCIA establishes visions for contributions to Sustainable Development Goals

The Japanese chemical industry has created three guiding principles to support member companies in their efforts towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Known as ‘visions’ the principles integrate industry’s social responsibility initiatives such as CSR and Responsible Care® with its actions to drive economic growth such as innovation and global business expansion.

Vision One: We create innovation through the power of chemistry and contribute to the healthy and abundant life of people, focuses on the industry’s role as a solution provider in realizing a sustainable society.  It encourages members to work with the value chain as well as with government and academia in delivering a SuperSmart society and to move towards production processes that conserve maximum energy and resources and aim for […]

ANIQ drives the application of SAICM in Mexico

The Mexican chemical industry association, ANIQ, is working alongside government, public administration, academics and civil society to deliver the SAICM goal of the rational management of chemical products throughout their life cycle.  The ambition is that by 2020 chemicals in Mexico are used and produced in a way that minimizes significant adverse effects on human health and the environment.

The initiative is led by Mexico’s National Consultative Committee for the Integral Management of Chemical Substances, Persistent Organic Compounds and Hazardous Waste which is chaired by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) and has a number of working groups.

ANIQ sits on the SAICM working group where 62 elements of the SAICM Global Action Plan have been identified as priorities.  […]

GPCA report highlights industry’s environmental and safety performance

GPCA has released its 2016 Responsible Care Performance Metrics Report highlighting the Arabian Gulf industry’s health, safety and environmental performance.

‘Setting standards through transparency’ brings together the collective environment, health and safety performance data of the GCC chemical and petrochemical industry for 2013-2016.  The data is collected in accordance with ICCA’s Global Harmonized Process Safety Metrics and covers 21 individual metrics with a data reporting level of 97%.

The report highlights the continued reduction of the Total Reportable Incident Rate (TRIR) for accidents at member facilities – down from 0.275 per 200,000 man hours worked in 2013 to 0.120 in 2016.  While this is still below the American Chemistry Council’s benchmark industry figure, eight of the 36 member companies reported zero accidents […]

ASEAN Regulatory Cooperation Project holds its third workshop

The ASEAN Regulatory Cooperation Project held its third workshop in October focusing on the alignment of GHS and chemical inventory requirements and capacity-building on prioritization of risk assessment.

The two-day event in Singapore was attended by 40 representatives from industry associations and key government authorities from nine ASEAN markets: Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Enhancing regulatory cooperation and understanding through such events has the potential to significantly reduce costs for both government and industry.  It helps economies to deliver their mandate of protecting human health and the environment without creating unnecessary barriers to trade, and will work to achieve sound chemical management in the ASEAN region.

An initiative of ICCA’s Global Regulatory Cooperation Task Force, under […]