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Cost guide for implementation of the UN/ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR)

Small Grant

Keywords

environment

Summary

The objective of the project is develop a cost guide with user interface to assist Parties to the UN/ECE Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) with its implementation and to offer an analysis of possible cost-saving options. The guide would also aid countries considering accession to the Protocol to rapidly evaluate the costs of their potential obligations thereby potentially speeding up the take-up and diffusion of PRTR systems around the world.

The use of emission inventories was mandated by Agenda 21 (Chs. 19,20) and by the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (Ch. 3) to achieve sustainable development and, specifically, the protection of human health and the environment through the sound management of chemicals and wastes. PRTRs are now considered to be a key mechanism to implement a number of multilateral environmental agreements, including the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The Protocol's objective is to enhance public access to information on the environment, to facilitate public participation and to contribute to pollution prevention and reduction.

Despite a number of intergovernmental recommendations to collect information on the costs of implementing PRTRs, in practice, surprisingly little research effort so far has gone into developing detailed cost estimates for countries implementing national PRTRs. Only a handful of studies exist that provide estimates of the costs of PRTR reporting and these either have a relatively narrow focus or represent very rough estimates.

The model is based on a unique methodology developed by UN/ECE, which reflects both the salient features of the reporting requirements under the Protocol on PRTRs and the relevant institutional framework within countries. It can handle very detailed cost estimates for the environmental regulatory authorities and for industry, and covers emissions to the various environmental media. A key feature is the model's bottom-up approach starting from the level of individual substances. Costs are calculated per substance for all eighty-six substances contained in the Protocol. Based on certain assumptions, these costs can then be aggregated up to the representative facility level, then to the activity level, then up to the country or regional level. This allows for different levels of outputs which may be relevant to different audiences.

The project is now entering the model calibration phase. This phase aims to examine how industrial facilities and environmental regulatory authorities would meet their obligations under the Protocol by collecting benchmark data from countries with similar systems in place. Once the model is calibrated, country-specific data can be input in order to arrive at a cost estimate for a given country, which will be of significant value to Parties and prospective parties to the Protocol.

The project will not estimate the costs of implementation of the UN/ECE Protocol on PRTRs for all countries in the UN/ECE region but will calibrate the model for countries to input their own data and, if time permits, run the model for a small subset of priority countries in the EECCA region, determined according to need and data availability.

The grant provided by the GIAN for this project totals SFr 48,064

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Project Team

Mr Pietro Rabassi , Principal Member, University of Milan (unimi) .

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