Highlights and images for 26 September 2023

Delegates got down to the nitty-gritty of the week’s work. They sought to forge a compromise on two key portions of the new framework expected to guide international work on the the sound management of chemicals and waste for years to come: finance and targets. Some progress was made on targets and on vetting the package of draft resolutions and draft High-level Declaration proposed for adoption by the Fifth International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5).

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Despite finance discussions being a focus of the day’s work, starting with a spirited “exchange of views” in the Committee of the Whole (CoW) on the supply side aspects of dedicated external finance, consensus on finance eluded negotiators during the day.

A CoW discussion of heavily bracketed specific framework text on dedicated external financing produced no breakthroughs. ICCM5 leadership decided to ask the Resolutions Contact Group to discuss the draft resolution on finance offered by the African Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Group (CRP.9), after which an open-ended working group would be created to negotiate throughout the evening on the resolution and linked framework text.

In the afternoon, the CoW also began discussion on a long list of targets, including those on:

• highly hazardous pesticides;
• information on chemicals in materials and products;
• data on chemicals production, emissions, and releases;
• research and development priority toward safer alternatives to harmful substances in products and mixtures;
• hazard and risk assessments;
• the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals; and
• issues of concern (IOCs).

The CoW decided to delete a target on implementing policies and programmes and reached consensus on two targets that call for: stakeholders to “give priority to” sustainable solutions to harmful substances in certain products; major economic sectors to develop sustainable chemical and waste management strategies. Delegates made progress on other targets but could not finalize them.

The Resolutions Contact Group finalized a first reading of all the draft resolutions except those on finance and adoption of the framework and assigned four informal “small groups” to start or continue work on resolutions regarding gender, measurability, monitoring and evaluation, health evaluation, Emerging Policy Issues (EPIs) and other IOCs, and international cooperation.

In the afternoon, the group examined and finalized a resolution on gender that would call for the Secretariat to produce a gender action plan for approval by the Conference and all stakeholders to implement interim actions towards mainstreaming a gender perspective in the implementation of the framework. They also substantially amended the revised text of the resolution on EPIs and IOCs, managing to clean several operative paragraphs and forwarding a final section to an informal group for finalization.