Austria, Germany and Switzerland have signed a declaration of intent with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on an innovative form of sustainable chemicals management.

The declaration, signed in Vienna on 21 November on the occasion of UNIDO’s 50th anniversary, calls for chemicals leasing to be scaled-up among countries and industries. Under the practice, rather than chemicals being sold by volume, the producer sells functions performed by them instead and thus makes them as efficient as possible.

Rolph Payet, Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, who attended the UNIDO events, called the declaration “a valuable step towards more sustainable management, in line with parties’ obligations to minimize waste, and a practice which we foresee becoming more and more the norm as we transition to a greener economy”.

Leasing has worked successfully in sectors such as the automotive, textile and manufacturing industries and leads to a more efficient use of chemicals with lower water, raw material and energy consumption, in addition of course to lower chemical usage – in line with sustainable development. This is how IKEA sources colouring for its textiles produced in India for example.

“There is no doubt that chemical leasing is continuing to revolutionize the way we do business with chemicals,” said UNIDO Director General Li Yong. “The circular economy can be an economic success and chemicals leasing makes this obvious,” underlined Austrian Environment Minister Andrä Rupprechter.

To read the declaration please click here. To read a blog on chemicals leasing by the Executive Secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Rolph Payet click here and for more information get in touch with charles.avis@brsmeas.org