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Lead petrol phase out decision at
UN Commission on Sustainable Development
Representatives of the NOO Earth Summit Watch who attended the third session of the
United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) from 11th-28th April 1995 in
New York called on the Lead Group for help. Jacob Scherr and Jared Blumenfeld of Earth
Summit Watch wrote that the Australian Leaded delegation was the sole exception to full
CSD acceptance of a proposed decision on leaded petrol. The proposed decision was
basically that those countries who had developed action plans for leaded petrol phase out
as well as international financial institutions should assist developing countries in
various ways to bring about a global phase out of leaded petrol.
Blumenfeld reported that the Australian delegation raised a series of procedural
objections. They misrepresented Australia's won efforts to reduce leaded gasoline at home
as inconsistent with the language of the proposed decision. (One of the members of the
delegation admitted to us that their concerns were a "red herring".) They said
that they would be willing to negotiate, but proposed as a substitute that nations
"develop appropriate national programs to address all hazardous chemicals, including
lead."
The LEAD Group then wrote a media release and a fax to environment
minister John Faulkner who was attending the UN CSD meeting in New York making the
following points:
- The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) is one of the outcomes of the Rio Earth
Summit of three years ago, which some commentators have criticised as a continuation of
the talkfest. The proposed global phase-out of leaded petrol, without increasing
aromatics, and preferably through the use of biomass ethanol, is being hailed by NGO
observers at the UN, as the first real actionable decision on the part of participating
nations, as opposed to general statements about the environment unbacked by real
commitment.
This is why the actions of the Australian Ambassador for the Environment, Penny
Wensley, and her team, in raising what are piffling and nit-picking objections to the
statement calling for a phase-down of lead in petrol, are so disappointing
As well as petrol, the phase-out would apply to lead in paint, in food and beverage
containers and drinking water, if the Australian Environment Minister, John Faulkner, can
in the final days of the CSD Meeting, turn around the growing concern of other nations,
that Australia bows to domestic vested interests on environmental matters.
It is a great pity that Australia, which acted so decisively at home in the past - for
example, being one of the first countries to legislate for all new vehicles to run on
unleaded petrol after 1986 - should now appear in the international arena as blocking
decisions with such significant implications for public well-being, particularly that of
millions of young children.
The eyes of the world are again on you Mr Faulkner, this time over the United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development proposed decision regarding global phase-out of
leaded petrol.
Both Graham Richardson's world-beating legislation [that all new vehicles in Australia
should run on unleaded petrol after 1986] and the huge consensus forged by Ros Kelly's
Lead Roundtable in July 1993 [that speeding the phase out of lead in petrol was the
priority for lead risk reduction activities in Australia], have brought substantial
progress at home in reducing the lead content of petrol, and resulting exposures to our
children and the environment.
We are thus puzzled as to why the Australian delegation at the CSD did not support the
international consensus, including all developing countries, to reduce the health and
environmental harm caused by leaded petrol.
We urge you to make Australia's stand at the CSD consistent with what we are doing at
home, and in so doing, you will be making an even bigger contribution than either of your
predecessors. Any other course of action would make Australia appear hypocritical and
damage our nation's reputation as a global environmental leader.
We trust that you, Mr Faulkner will act to secure our nation's support for this vital
global initiative.
On May 1st Jacob Scherr and Blumenfeld wrote to the LEAD
Group "thanks so much for your quick action which helped to completely turn around
the Australian delegation. Around 4am - a few hours after we spoke - they dropped all of
their procedural objections. In fact ambassador Penny Wensley then took the lead in
gaining a consensus with the G-77 [Group of 77 developing countries] and the EU [European
Union] on the language - for which we expressed to her our appreciation.
"We plan to monitor the implementation of this decision, and would
welcome your further co-operation. Below is the excerpt from the final decision from the
Commission on Sustainable Development regarding the phase out of leaded gasoline. We were
very pleased with this language, which, by UN standards, is highly specific and
prescriptive."
Excerpt from the final decision from the Commission on Sustainable
Development
The Commission takes note of the initiatives of the Summit of the
Americas (Miami, 9-11 December 1994) and the follow-up US and Mexico hosted International
Workshop on Phasing Lead out of Gasoline (Washington, D.C., 14-15 March 1995), in
particular the efforts by developing countries and the commitments made by countries in
the Western Hemisphere at the Summit of the Americas to develop action plans to achieve a
phase out of the use of lead in gasoline.
The Commission calls upon all countries to consider and all interested countries to
develop action plans with a view to phase out or reduce the use of lead in
gasoline, and invites them to inform the CSD of their decisions and progress as
appropriate at the fourth session of the Commission in 1996 To this end, in the context of
the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, donor countries and
international financial institutions should assist developing countries in the financing
and transfer of relevant technologies in accordance with Chapters 33 and 34 of Agenda 21.
furthermore, developing countries are encouraged to disseminate their acquired knowledge,
including the use of biomass ethanol as an environmentally sound substitute of lead in
gasoline. The Commission further calls upon countries to guard against the replacement of
lead in gasoline with the excessive use of aromatics that are also harmful to human
health.
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