Global Mercury Partnership - Launch of the Cement Partnership

The United Nations Environment Programme and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) organized the launch of the new work area of the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership to address mercury releases from the cement industry. The launch event was held from 18-19 June 2013 in the International Environment House II, Geneva, Switzerland.

Purpose of the meeting 

• provided the most up to date knowledge on mercury releases from cement manufacturing;
• discussed mercury control and abatement technologies for the industry;
• highlighted methods of preparing mercury inventories in the sector;
• and considered the next steps for the partnership area

Presentations

• Rationale,objectives and priority areas of the Cement Industry Partnership on Mercury (Alan Kreisberg, Lafarge, France)
• Experiences from other international processes (Kare Karstensen, Foundation For Scientific & Industrial Research SINTEF, Norway)
• US multi-pollutant abatement framework (Keith Barnett, United States Environmental Protection Agency)
• European Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (Maria-Bianca Scalet, European IPPC Bureau,Spain)
• UNEP's work on mercury release inventories( Gunnar Futsaeter, UNEP,Geneva)
• Experience from Latin America (Maria-José Garcia, Inter-American Cement Federation,Columbia)
• Sources of mercury, behavior in cement process and abatement options (Volker Hoenig,European Cement Research Academy)

Meeting Documents

• Agenda 

Information Document

• ECRA report