At the Global Roundtable on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs), participants discussed successes and challenges in implementing the PRTR Protocol to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), as well as other PRTRs in place or being developed outside the Protocol context.
The round table event took place on 19 November 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland.
November 2013: At the Global Roundtable on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs), participants discussed successes and challenges in implementing the PRTR Protocol to the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), as well as other PRTRs in place or being developed outside the Protocol context. The round table event took place on 19 November 2013, in Geneva, Switzerland.
The event featured panels with representatives from North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia and different sub-regions of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The first panel addressed the benefits and opportunities for PRTRs, such as how they might be used to estimate environmental impact of pollutant emissions, collect data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and function as a single window for environmental reporting and compliance with international agreements such as the Montreal Protocol.
The second panel addressed common challenges and best practices to address them, including how to ensure effective involvement of enterprises, how PRTR functions are paid for and managed, and estimation techniques. A third panel looked at regional attempts at harmonization, including the EU’s E-PRTR, the Central American Commission on Environment and Development’s (CCAD) work on a subregional PRTR for Central America and the Dominican Republic, and the work of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) to harmonize the PRTRs of Canada, Mexico and the US.
A final panel looked at current activities related to PRTRs undertaken by UNECE, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the potential for strengthening synergies between them.
The Roundtable was co-hosted by UNECE, in its role as PRTR Protocol secretariat, and OECD, in cooperation with UNITAR. It was held back-to-back with the third meeting of the Working Group of the Parties to the Protocol on PRTRs, which took place from 20-21 November 2013. [UNECE Press Release] [Presentations]