In 2018, the SAICM secretariat received funding from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) to execute a global project with the purpose of scaling-up action on SAICM ‘Emerging Policy Issues’ (EPIs) and support knowledge management and information exchange.

The SAICM GEF 9771 project on Global Best Practices on Emerging Policy Issues of Concern under SAICM: Chemicals without concern, towards safer products for our environment and health, aims to accelerate the adoption of national and value chain initiatives to control Emerging Policy Issues (EPIs) and contribute to the 2020 SAICM goal and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

This initiative is being implemented in over 40 countries in a 4-year period, aiming at presenting early results at the fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5). The SAICM secretariat is the Executing Agency responsible for the daily management of the project, while UNEP is the Implementing Agency, providing overall guidance and supervision.

A number of stakeholders participate in the execution of this project, which includes Regional Organizations, Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), National Cleaner Production Centres (NCPCs), and Academia.

The project is comprised of three main components:

1. Promoting regulatory and voluntary action by government and industry to phase out lead in paint
2. Lifecycle management of chemicals present in products, and
3. Knowledge management and stakeholder engagement.  

Component 1: Lead in paint

The Lead in Paint component promotes regulatory and voluntary action by the government and industry to phase out lead in paint. The project outcome is aiming for at least 40 countries to legislate and implement legislation on lead paint, and for at least 35 small and medium paint manufacturing enterprises in seven countries to phase out lead from their production processes.

Component 2: Lifecycle management of chemicals present in products

This component aims to accelerate the adoption of measures by governments and value chains to track and control chemicals in supply chains for building products, electronics and toys. The purpose is to create demand-led and market-based incentives for supply chains to act via public procurement and sustainable finance measures; develop quantitative life cycle assessment tools to compare chemical alternatives and avoid regrettable substitutions; and enhancing the ambition of and compliance with regulatory requirements on chemicals of concern. 

Component 3: Knowledge management and stakeholder engagement

The objective of this component is for countries and stakeholders to access up to date information produced by the project and other stakeholders on the EPIs, and actively contribute to communities of practice for peer-to-peer learning exchanges, to support decision-making and development of new initiatives towards the 2020 SAICM goal and the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. This project component

The chemicalswithoutconcern.org website is a knowledge management platform created through this project and will contribute to the "Knowledge and Information" objective of SAICM.

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