The paragraph29 Study
 

The Governing Council at its 25th session requested the Executive Director of UNEP, “for the purposes of informing the work of the intergovernmental negotiating committee, to conduct a study, in consultation with the countries concerned, on various types of mercury-emitting sources, as well as current and future trends of mercury emissions, with a view to analysing and assessing the cost and the effectiveness of alternative control strategies and measures” (“The paragraph29 study”).

The draft outline of the study was presented at the Ad hoc open-ended working group meeting in Bangkok, 19 to 23 October 2009.The power point presentation can be found here.

A letter requesting information has been sent out to a number of countries (USA, China, India, South Africa, Brazil, Russian Federation) and the European Union. We are requesting information on emissions, technical source characterization and current and future plans for emissions control. Information will be collected through questionnaires attached as annex to this letter. Excel spreadsheets (Guideline for completing Excel-spreadsheets , cement spreadsheet , coal fire power plants spreadsheet , non-ferrous metals spreadsheet and waste incineration spreadsheet) to assist the submission of more detailed quantitative information have also been forwarded to the countries. Other countries are also invited to submit information using these questionnaires and spread sheets. Such submissions would be very useful. The deadline for submitting information is 15 April 2010. All submissions will, to the extent possible be posted on our websites.

The completed spreadsheets and possible additional information should be sent to: Gunnar Futsaeter, UNEP Chemicals, DTIE, email: gunnar.futsaeter@unep.org , with a copy to : John Munthe (Project coordinator), IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, email: john.munthe@ivl.se 

The Zero Draft report of the study is now available (word and pdf versions). This report provides a summary of available knowledge on mercury emissions to air; short description of the sectors selected for this study; where mercury enters the processes and where/how it is released to air; control options and the associated costs. It is based on reports on global mercury emissions and qualitative assessment of costs and efficiencies of control options, prepared for UNEP in 2008, as well as recent information available from the open literature on emissions, control options and costs.

This Zero Draft report also contains an overview of future scenarios for mercury emissions and initial assumptions to be used in the preparation of scenario calculations during Phase 2 of the study.

In Phase 2 additional information will be collected (see above) in order to refine and revise the information presented here. The collected information will be compiled in the spring of 2010 to provide for a more accurate basis for development of improved estimates and scenarios on emissions, better source characterization and improved estimates of control costs and efficiencies.

The intention with the Zero draft report is not to provide direct input to the intergovernmental negotiating committee at this stage but rather to inform countries and individuals involved in the UNEP mercury activities on status of information currently available for calculating costs and efficiencies for mercury emission reduction strategies. It should also serve as a guide for those countries involved in the Paragraph 29 study on the type of information needed, and why this information is necessary for more detailed and accurate scenario calculations.

We invite all parties to give us comments and relevant information to improve the study. Deadline for comment is set to 15 April 2010.