POWER March 2013 - 8

Nations Agree to Legally Binding
Instrument to Curb World's Mercury
Emissions
Mercury emissions from power plants in 137 United Nations member
countries could be subject to strict controls and reductions if an international
treaty is signed by participating nations this October.
After wrapping up four years of complex negotiations to prepare
a global instrument on mercury, governments of nations participating
in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
initiative on Jan. 19 agreed in Switzerland to the text of a legally
binding instrument, which they called the " Minamata Convention
on Mercury. " The text of the convention, named after the
Japanese city where serious health damage occurred as a result
of methyl mercury pollution in the mid-20th century, will be open
for signature at the Diplomatic Conference in Japan, from Oct.
7 to 11, 2013. It will become legally binding once 50 countries
have ratified and agreed to be bound by it.
The fifth session of UNEP's Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee
ended with governments including the U.S., European Union,
China, and India agreeing to actions to reduce mercury emissions to
the air from power plants and other sources, reduce the use of mercury
in products and industrial processes, and address mercury supply
and trade. The treaty would control mercury emissions and releases
from large industrial facilities-including coal-fired power plants and
industrial boilers, certain kinds of smelters (handling zinc and gold,
for example), waste incineration, and cement clinker facilities.
It calls for the installation of " Best Available Technologies " for
new power plants and facilities and would legally bind countries
to implement plans that would bring emissions down from existing
ones. The plans for existing sources would take into account
" national circumstances, and the economic and technical feasibility,
and affordability of the measures, " within 10 years after
the accord is ratified.
1. Quicksilver around the world. The United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) estimates that global emissions of mercury
to air from a variety of human activities in 2010 totaled 1,960 metric
tons. This chart breaks down that total by region. The bulk of mercury
emissions in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa were released by
artisanal and small-scale gold mining practices, for which extensive
data gaps exist, UNEP admits. Source: UNEP
Central America & the Caribbean, 2%
North America, 3%
Region undefined, 4%
EU27, 6%
Commonwealth of
Independent States
& other European
countries, 6%
South Asia, 8%
South America, 13%
Sub-Saharan
Africa, 16%
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East &
Southeast
Asia, 40%
Metal production
(ferrous & nonferrous),
18%
Fossil fuel
combustion (power
& heating), 24%
POWER | March 2013
Middle Eastern States, 2%
Australia, New Zealand
& Oceania, 1%
North Africa, 1%
Waste incineration, waste & other, 5%
Other, 6%
Cement production, 9%
Artisanal &
small-scale gold
mining, 37%
Chlor-alkali
industry, 1%
The negotiations, which were held over five sessions between
2010 and 2013, had initially sought to set thresholds on the
size of the plants or level of emissions to be controlled, but with
countries disagreeing on these specifics until the final week, the
nations agreed to defer that decision until the first meeting after
the treaty has been ratified.
Among its key aspects, the treaty would ban by 2020 the
export and import of a range of mercury-containing products,
including batteries, certain types of compact fluorescent lamps,
and soaps and cosmetics. And it would require countries to create
strategies to reduce the amount of mercury used by artisanal
and small-scale miners, requiring countries with legal small
gold-mining operations to develop national plans within three
years of the treaty's enforcement to reduce or eliminate their
use of mercury.
UNEP: World's Mercury Emissions May Be Rising
after Decline
UNEP says that worldwide mercury emissions likely peaked in the
1950s to 1970s and then declined because of reductions from Europe,
Russia, and North America. Some indications show that emissions
may be rising again, with increases from East Asia offsetting
continuing reductions in Europe and North America, it warns.
According to the international institution's " Global Mercury
Assessment 2013, " a document that updates global releases and
the environmental transport of mercury, an estimated 1,960 metric
tons (mt) of mercury were emitted to the atmosphere in 2010
as a result of direct human activity. An updated inventory of
emissions to air suggests that about 475 mt of mercury are emitted
by coal combustion, compared with just 10 mt from combustion
of other fossil fuels. More than 85% of the 475 mt estimated
is attributable to emissions from coal burning for power generation
and industrial uses.
2. Anthropogenic mercury emissions by source. About
24% of the world's anthropogenic emissions of mercury came from
fossil fuel combustion in 2010-mostly from coal-though the widely
varying mercury content of coal makes emissions estimates " highly
uncertain, " UNEP says. Estimated emissions of mercury from artisanal
and small-scale gold mining, the largest human-caused source, doubled
those reported in 2005-owing partly to the high price of gold and
increased emission estimates. Source: UNEP
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POWER March 2013

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