Risks to human health and the environment from pollution of air, water and land remain among the greatest challenges we face today. Despite the many efforts by a variety of stakeholders to reduce levels of pollution, people continue, often without knowing, to breathe poor-quality air that reduces life expectancy, or to drink water contaminated with substances that harm health. Pressure on biodiversity from pollution and climate change is also increasing. Knowledge of air, soil and water quality and the sources from which pollutants are released into the environment enables us to react to pollution threats, focusing our action on reducing and preventing pollution. Pollutant release and transfer registers (PRTRs) help countries to generate and share such information with stakeholders and decision-makers. 

The Fourth Global Round Table (Geneva, 20–21 November 2024) provided a forum in which to exchange experiences in PRTR development, The event, co-chaired by Slovenia and the United States of America, celebrated the long-standing cooperation between the two major intergovernmental bodies dealing with PRTRs, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Party on PRTRs and the Working Group of the Parties to the Protocol on PRTRs under the UNECE Aarhus Convention. About 100 participants from over 50 countries participated in the event, jointly organized by OECD and UNECE, in cooperation with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Governments and various stakeholders came together to learn from a wealth of experience, thereby ultimately helping their countries to address many challenges linked to chemicals management. 

Participants discussed data use cases on a variety of topics and showcased the potential power of PRTRs as a tool for fact-based decision-making and good governance in different areas, such as environmental protection, health and circular economy. Examples from some countries demonstrated the potential future use of PRTRs, while other examples presented concerned already applied practices. It appeared that none of the existing PRTRs covered all possible use cases; participants thus were able to take home inspiration for the further improvement of their national PRTR infrastructure. The main topics included the use of PRTR data for: 

• Building relevant government and industry capacity. 

• Corporate sustainable reporting, benchmarking and life cycle assessment studies. 

• Cost of pollution and impact on environment and human health. 

• Chemicals management systems. 

• Reporting and effectiveness evaluation (for multilateral environment agreements, national policies, Sustainable Development Goals, Global Framework on Chemicals). 

• Environmental justice and human rights. 

• Resource management for disaster and emergency preparedness. 

• Movement of waste across borders. 

• National action plans on data generation and dissemination. 

• Pollution prevention and reduction. 

• Polluter pays principle/taxation systems and cooperation with financial institutions. 

• Protection of water resources, including the marine environment. 

• Waste-specific reporting. 

Participants highlighted both the relevance of PRTRs for all countries, not just for a handful of industrialized nations, and the flexibilities in terms of tailoring PRTR systems to national priorities, namely to “domesticate” PRTRs. Significant progress has been made in recent years, among other things, due to the immense progress made in data management, user interfaces facilitating on-the-go data analysis and different e-government initiatives for reporting of and access to information. At the same time, despite progress made in building more comprehensive PRTRs, participants stated that more specific efforts were still required to make PRTR information more useful and actionable. It was important to establish PRTRs as centres of expertise on pollution-related data collection and dissemination, as well as for cross-sectoral data-use cases and cooperation on data compatibility issues.  

Collecting and actively disseminating data on pollution sources is increasingly recognized as basic infrastructure that countries and the international community require for sustainable development. This includes for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the new targets formulated under the Global Framework on Chemicals, including target B3 (the “PRTR target”); the pollutant-specific multilateral environmental agreements, e.g., the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Minamata Convention on Mercury; and ultimately, for the transition to a circular and sustainable economy. 

By enhancing transparency and accountability, PRTRs can play a central role in promoting peaceful and inclusive societies and good governance (SDG 16) across the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. PRTRs can also make an important contribution to achieving specific SDGs, in particular Goals 3 (good health and well-being), 6 (clean water and sanitation), 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and 12 (responsible consumption and production). The Protocol on PRTRs provides a solid legal framework and benchmarking in this regard. It is the only legally binding treaty on this subject that is open for accession to all UN Member States. UNECE, together with partner organizations – OECD, UNITAR, UNEP and the European Environment Agency – is helping countries to establish effective PRTR systems that meet common international standards.    

The meeting report, along with the presentations and other material, will be made available on the meeting web page.  

The Protocol on PRTRs, currently chaired by Slovenia, is the only legally binding treaty on this subject that is open for accession to all UN Member States. The Protocol has been used across the globe as a prototype for establishing reporting by industry on pollutant releases and waste transfers and for providing public access to related information. Global Round Table participants came from the following countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Ukraine, the UK, USA and Uzbekistan. Representatives of the following international organizations gave presentations at the meeting: OECD, UNECE, UNITAR, UNEP, the UN Environment Management Group, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the secretariats of the Barcelona, Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, other partner organizations and the Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights.