Background & project objective
With the support of the Life Cycle Initiative, hosted by the Industry Innovation Branch of the Industry and Economy Division, the Chemicals and Health Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) seeks to advance the work on Chemical Footprint approaches within the context of the Global Framework on Chemicals (GFC). The purpose is to advance toward a robust, science-based international standard clarifying (a) what a Chemical Footprint refers to, (b) which approaches and data are relevant to assess it, and (c) how the assessment should be performed, and its results be interpreted in the different relevant decision contexts, including Green and Sustainable Chemistry and Chemical Alternatives Assessment.
Main goal of the project is to support tasks related to the delivery of relevant outputs to initiate the process for developing an international standard on chemical footprint, facilitating stakeholder engagement and consensus-building, supporting the review and analysis of relevant background documents, designing capacity building opportunities and materials in the context of ongoing projects, and contributing to the necessary methodological alignment and terminology into a separately developed industry guidance.
Project output
Main project output focuses on the three main aspects that are listed in below table.
| Aspect | Output description |
|---|---|
| Terminology report document | Lead the development of a report on chemical footprint terminology and methodological framework, including definitions, possible metrics, system boundaries, data and methodological requirements, and reporting formats. |
| Methodological guidance | Provide inputs to Guidance on Chemical Footprint “Approaches for the Industrial Sector”, on aspects related to terminology, methodological framework, and process towards developing an international standard. |
| Concept note | Develop a generic concept note for capacity building / awareness raising on Chemical Footprint approaches, based on documents prepared for the Global Framework on Chemicals. |
