Global Chemicals Outlook - UNEP

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28 Figure 4. Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) risk profi les for quoted companies # of potential SVHCs in each product category Household Chemicals Plastics & rubber (incl. toys) Textile and clothing Home/office articles Paints & pigments Transportation Sporting goods, gear, accessories Leather products Construction Personal Care Electronics Metals Wood Watches, Clocks Batteries Furniture Low Risk Medium Risk High Risk 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Source: MSCI ESG Research, ChemSec’s SIN List 2.0 (May 2011 ) Insurance and environmental liability benefi ts of improved environmental management The steadily rising cost and impact of environmental risk liability are related to several factors, including past operational activities, current operational activities, business transactions, and fi nancial and reporting obligations. Many private companies and public agencies have found that a sound environmental/chemical management system, such as ISO 14000, is an effective tool for managing their environmental liabilities. Although the primary purpose for the adoption of environmental/chemical management systems is improving environmental performance, insurance companies such as Swiss Re note that such practices can result in substantial economic benefi ts in terms of insurance. These insurance benefi ts include the securing of insurability (ability to acquire insurance coverage), lower deductibles, higher limits insured, broader coverage, and more favorable premium rates. For example, following the development and implementation of a pilot environmental management system program, the Port of Houston Authority benefi ted from a 20% reduction in insurance cost. Source: Swiss Re. (1998). Environmental management systems and environmental impairment liability insurance. http://www.swissre.com/resources/ c63dd180455c7cfeb76cbf80a45d76a0-environmental_eng.Paras.0006.File.pdf.; Kruse, C.J. (2005). Environmental management systems at ports – a new initiative. In Proceedings of the 14th Biennial Coastal Zone Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Jul 17-21, 2005.
External implications and cost of inaction for human health and environment: large with heavy burden on individual and public budgets The UNEP Cost of Inaction Report (2012) gathered and examined available primary data containing relevant monetized or quantifi ed external cost information related to chemical mismanagement. The vast majority of human health costs linked to chemical production, consumption and disposal are not borne by chemical producers, or shared down the value-chain. a) Poor management of chemicals across their lifecycles comes with a price paid for by individuals, important economic sectors and public budgets, including through poor health and degraded ecosystem health and productivity. For example, one study suggests that the major economic and environmental losses due to the use of pesticides in the United States amounted to USD $1.5 billion in pesticides resistance and USD $1.4 billion in crop losses, and USD $2.2 billion in bird losses, amongst other costs. Another study in China cites the effect of acute water pollution incidents on commercial fi sheries which has US$ 236.3 billion: global environmental external costs from ‘global human activity’ producing VOCs; US$ 22 billion: global environmental external costs from mercury emissions. US$2.1billion: Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) costs of children’s exposures to lead in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia; US$108 billion: IQbased lost economic productivity due to childhood lead exposures in the same regions. been estimated at approximately USD $634 million (4 billion Yuan) for one year. b) Health care in many low- and middle-income countries is hospital-centered and focused on patients who have reached the point of acute stress or have long-term complications. Given the rising chemical intensity in these countries and the epidemic of chronic diseases, especially Uncompensated harm to human health and the environment are market failures that need correction. The study indicates that these ‘spillover’ costs of inaction on chemicals policies are large and draws the following conclusions: in children, that emerged contemporaneously with increasing use of chemicals in the developed countries, this is liable to be an increasingly expensive US$ 90 billion: Projected total costs of illness and injury for pesticides users in the sub-Saharan African region from 2015 to 2020. approach to public health administration in the future. New evidence on health costs from pesticides in sub- Saharan Africa gives an indication of just how large. UNEP Cost of Inaction Report (2012) used available data to make a conservative estimate for pesticide users on smallholdings in sub-Saharan Africa. It reveals that the costs of injury (lost work days, outpatient medical treatment, and inpatient hospitalization) from pesticide poisonings, in this region alone, amounted to USD $4.4 billion in 2005. This is an underestimate as it does not include the costs of lost livelihoods and lives, environmental health effects, and effects of other chemicals. In 2009, Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to health in sub-Saharan Africa amounted to USD $10.3 billion. Excluding HIV/ AIDS, total assistance to basic health services approximated USD $4.8 billion. A conservative projection of the 2005 estimate to 2009 shows costs of injury due to pesticide poisoning in sub-Saharan Africa to be USD $6.2 billion. This suggests that the total ODA to general healthcare is exceeded by costs of inaction related to current pesticide use alone. 29
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The Global Chemicals Outlook assess
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Global Chemicals Outlook - UNEP

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