News

‘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 […]

ICCA ensures representation at SAICM Bureau and Upcoming Meetings

ICCA has nominated Servet Gören to serve as the industry representative at the SAICM Bureau.  Her main role is to ensure that the industry’s views are incorporated into the SAICM processes – including the Intersessional Process and the Open Ended Working Group (OEWG).

The next Intersessional Process meeting will be held on 12-16 March 2018 in Stockholm.  In the meantime, Regional Meetings are scheduled for January and February in Bangkok and Panama City (see Calendar section at the end of this newsletter).

ICCA is very active in providing input to the relevant documents that will guide the discussion at upcoming meetings and also ensures that its key messages are conveyed and taken up at regional meetings.

The date and venue of the next […]

ICCA Traineeship on global chemicals management

Jean Balsat joins Cefic this month on a three-month traineeship. One of his tasks is to work on ICCA activities related to global chemicals management,  with a specific focus on Responsible Care®.  Jean will oversee joint capacity building projects between industry and UN Environment and also be involved in activities related to desk studies on SDGs and knowledge and information.

By the end of his training Jean will have become familiar with worldwide chemical industry issues and challenges and be equipped to secure a potential position with UN Environment and act as the ICCA contact for the SAICM Secretariat.

A French national, Jean holds two Master’s degrees: in Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development and in Local and Regional Economics, Urban Planning and […]

ICCA Contributes Solutions to Tackling The Global Challenge To Clean Up Our Planet And #Beatpollution

UN Environment is calling on governments, businesses, civil society organizations, and any other interested groups or institutions to join the fight to #BeatPollution.
Read more about ICCA’s committment to tackle this global challenge.

About ICCA

The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) represents chemical manufacturers and producers around the world. We are the worldwide voice of the chemical industry with our members accounting for more than 90 percent of global chemical sales, and more than 20 million employees around the world. We help the chemical industry by tackling global issues and helping the industry improve continuously.

ICCA Commits to #BeatPollution

ICCA is an association of innovators, visionaries, solutions providers, and product stewardship pioneers. Above all, we are optimists. What others see as challenges, we see […]

Chemical industry has significant potential to contribute to a low carbon world

Study finds sector contributions could deliver emissions reductions in excess of total US annual emissions and help support Paris climate agreement target

Brussels, 27 October 2017; a study released this week finds that the global chemical industry has the possibility to make an important contribution to a low carbon future. It demonstrates how solutions from the chemical sector could enable significant emission reductions and support the UNFCCC Paris Agreement for restricting global warming to “well below 2 degrees Celsius” by the end of the century.

Undertaken earlier this year by energy and climate experts Ecofys, a Navigant company, the study calculates avoided emissions across four key chemical industry value chains: buildings, transport, renewable power and food packaging. The findings show the chemical […]

Highlights from ICCA spring meetings

In March and April, the ICCA CP&H LG, ICCA RC LG, ICCA E&CC LG and ICCA Steering Committee held their first annual face-to-face meetings to define the agendas for the year.

The ICCA Steering Committee held its annual spring meeting in Brussels April 4 and 5.  The meeting was filled with productive discussion and punctuated by two exciting team building opportunities for attendees to refine their Italian cooking skills and to enjoy an exclusive dinner at the top of the Atomium, one of Brussel’s most popular attractions.

The Steering Committee members considered many issues that had been developed and discussed at the joint meeting of the CP&H and RC leadership groups in Berlin earlier in Mach.

Highlights included:

An acknowledgement that marine debris is […]