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How important is information disclosure to control hazardous chemicals?
▼ Currently, more than 50 countries have established PRTR systems or initiated pilot projects (marked blue in the figure).
◆China Environmental News trainee reporter Hu Xiufang
Recently, PRTR: Establishing China's Pollutant Discharge and Transfer Registration System was released in Beijing, focusing on the issue of PRRS (pollutant emissions and transfer registration) information disclosure system to strengthen the control of hazardous chemicals.
The report shows that although China's environmental information disclosure has made historic progress, the use of information disclosure as a method of pollution control involves more disclosure of general pollutants, and it has yet to be extended to persistent cumulative pollution such as hazardous chemicals and toxic heavy metals. Object. At present, some key pollutant discharge units have disclosed the discharge of characteristic pollutants and hazardous wastes to the public, but they have not yet become the norm.
● Environmental conventions promote information disclosure system
Today, with increasingly strict environmental management, in addition to the Basel and Stockholm conventions on chemicals, the Aarhus Convention has gone through 20 spring and autumn (full name "Getting public participation in information on environmental issues" Conventions for decision-making and access to justice have also become important documents for accelerating the resolution of environmental problems. On June 25, 1998, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe adopted the Aarhus Convention at the Fourth Ministerial Conference and entered into force on October 31, 2001.
The Aarhus Convention emphasizes the importance of establishing a pollution inventory system and opening it to the public. This landmark convention has played a significant role in promoting the development of a global environmental information disclosure system for nearly 20 years, under the Convention and its various international multilateral initiatives.
Under the influence of the Aarhus Convention, people are increasingly demanding the disclosure of environmental information, and the PRTR system came into being. The system governs the registration and reporting of toxic and hazardous emissions into the atmosphere, water and soil, as well as wastes that are disposed of and disposed of in remote locations, requiring polluters to maintain a transparent and responsible attitude towards terminal discharges and to protect the public. The right to know allows the media and civil society to participate in governance.
● Successful foreign practice of the PRTR system
The United States' Toxic Release List (TRI) system is the earliest major example of the PRTR system. One of the main authors of the report, Kate Logan, Director of Green Choices for Public Environmental Research, said: "After the publication of TRI information, some US companies have begun to reduce or even eliminate the use of specific chemicals.
For example, in 1988, the president of Monsanto Corporation pledged a 90% reduction in pollution emissions from its subsidiaries within five years. At that time, people thought that this was basically impossible. But in fact, after five years, its emission reductions reached 95%, exceeding the target. ”
She pointed out that after the establishment of the US TRI, after 10 years of information disclosure, the emissions of 340 chemicals reported in the list achieved an independent emission reduction of 45.5%.
Examples of environmental information disclosure, social organization, and public participation in promoting corporate emissions reductions include the US “Scorecard”. The website, established by the NGO in April 1998, serves as a free information portal that provides the public with environmental and health risks of hazardous substances and pollutants, and aims to expose the companies with the most serious pollution records and promote them to improve. The public can enter the pollution source information of the community where the zip code is located in the website. In 2001, five years after the site was established, emissions of pollutants from the carcinogenic industry were reduced by 20%, and pollutants associated with birth defects and developmental problems were reduced by 24%.
The relevant case in the Czech Republic also shows that the PRTR system can promote local pollutant emission reduction. Local environmental organizations have also struggled for 10 years, and finally realized a significant reduction in the chemical substances used in the manufacture of electronic products from 2006 to 2008. Throughout the process, NGOs list the polluters as a key step.
Joe DiGangi, senior consultant for science and technology at IPEN (International POPs Elimination Network), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of persistent organic pollutants, also pointed out that “the environmental performance history of the factory is a reference for information. The national environmental protection department is considering the factory. At the time, if there is a situation in which residents are resentful, they will consult with other departments on this basis. From this perspective, it is also an improvement in the discourse power of the relevant ministries."
● Strengthen information disclosure and public participation to promote chemical pollution prevention
Nowadays, the problem of chemical pollution is receiving more and more attention in China. The 2015 Environmental Protection Law and its supporting Measures for the Disclosure of Environmental Information of Enterprises and Institutions require that the “emission concentration and total amount” of characteristic pollutants be disclosed to the public. The new "Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law of the People's Republic of China", which was implemented in 2018, explicitly requires enterprises to "disclose information on toxic and harmful water pollutants."
On the other hand, public participation and participation enthusiasm have gradually increased in promoting the resolution of environmental problems. Fang Yingjun, the promoter of the Suzhou Green Jiangnan Public Environmental Concern Center, said in an interview that in recent years, the public has reported more and more environmental pollution problems, and the public's environmental awareness is constantly increasing, so the quality requirements for the living environment are coming. The higher.
The public's demands for the environment are getting stronger and stronger, and public participation will bring changes to the environment. This change is not limited to the public alone, but will bring changes to other residents living in the surrounding area, which is an improvement in the quality of living environment for all.
The disclosure of corporate pollutant discharge information is not only related to the public's right to know and physical health, but also the most cost-effective incentive and promotion method for enterprises. Ma Jun, director of the Center for Public Environmental Research, said, “The disclosure of pollutant emissions information is actually to promote the resolution of environmental problems. The public must be widely involved, provided that information is open. It can also force enterprises to reduce emissions, and enterprises can either Independence can also innovate and achieve the effect of maximizing the promotion of emission reduction."