EPA Leadership in the Global Mercury Partnership

The Global Mercury Partnership (Partnership) is a voluntary multi-stakeholder partnership initiated in 2005 to take immediate actions to protect human health and the environment from the releases of mercury and its compounds to the environment.  

EPA has lead U.S. government participation in the Partnership by serving as co-lead for the Chlor Alkali and Product partnership areas, and by co-chairing the Partnership Advisory Group (PAG),  which provides advice and guidance to the Global Mercury Partnership to encourage the work of the partnership areas.

Highlights

Fourteenth Meeting of the Partnership Advisory Group of the Global Mercury Partnership

EPA co-chaired the Fourteenth annual meeting of the Partnership Advisory Group on December 19, 2023. The meeting took stock of recent and ongoing activities under the eight partnership areas and  included exchanges on cross-cutting priority topics for future work such as mercury trade and flow and establishing the linkages between biodiversity, climate change and mercury emissions.  The Partnership also welcomed and welcomed Bianca D’lamini of the Government of Eswatini as the new co-chair. Initiated by EPA in 2005, the partnership currently has over 235 members from governments, industry, and NGOs. 

About the Global Mercury Partnership

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Mercury Partnership was initiated in 2005 to take immediate actions to protect human health and the environment from the release of mercury and its compounds to the environment by minimizing and where feasible, ultimately eliminating global anthropogenic mercury releases to air water and land.

Who participates in the Global Mercury Partnership?

The Global Mercury Partnership is a voluntary partnership of over 140 stakeholders including governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, private sector entities, and others. Partners agree to work together in a systematic way to achieve the goals of the Global Mercury Partnership, including supporting the ratification and implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

How does the Global Mercury Partnership work?

The Partnership has focused its efforts in eight priority partnership areas, which are identified in the Overarching Framework. In addition, the Partnership Advisory Group provides encouragement to the partnership areas, supports coordination between partnership areas, and provides information about the activities of the partnership areas to a broader audience. 

Partnership Areas of the Global Mercury Partnership

The Partnership has focused its efforts in the following areas:

• Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining 
• Mercury Releases from Coal Combustion 
• Mercury Cell Chlor-alkali Production 
• Mercury in Products 
• Mercury Air Transport and Fate Research 
• Mercury Waste Management 
• Mercury Supply and Storage 
• Mercury Releases from the Cement Industry 

Each of the partnership areas develops and implements a business plan that identifies priority activities for the partnership areas; tracks progress in implementing these activities; identifies opportunities and challenges; discusses resource needs and how they will be mobilized; and describes how the performance will be evaluated and reported.

EPA's Role in the Global Mercury Partnership

Leadership in the Global Mercury Partnership

EPA takes an active role in the Partnership because the majority of mercury deposited in the United States is from global sources, including a combination of natural sources; historically deposited mercury that is re-emitted to the atmosphere; and man-made emissions from a variety of sources, such as coal fired power plants, industrial processes, production of gold and other metals, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining.

EPA leads global work providing technical assistance and information exchange on non-mercury technologies, best practices, and management of surplus mercury.

Current Projects

EPA leads the Mercury in Products Partnership Area. The goal of this partnership area is to phase out and eventually eliminate mercury in products and to eliminate releases during manufacturing and other industrial processes via environmentally sound production, transportation, storage and disposal procedures.

Recent projects include assisting in the development of a report and information document  on the harmonized commodity description and coding system related to the use of mercury-specific customs codes to monitor import and export of mercury-added products. In addition, the partnership has hosted product-specific webinars for mercury-added lamps, medical measuring devices, and skin-lightening creams.

Past Projects

PA and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) jointly lead the Chlor-alkali Sector Partnership Area.  Mercury-cell chlor-alkali production remains a significant use of mercury globally and can be a significant source of mercury releases to the environment. The mercury-cell process is one of three manufacturing processes used by the chlor-alkali sector to produce chlorine and caustic soda.  

The primary goal of this partnership area is the effective phasing out of the use of mercury in the chlor-alkali sector by 2025, as identified in the Minamata Convention. Over 25 facilities are still operational globally at this time. The partnership works in coordination with UNIDO, UNEP, the World Chlorine Council and other partners to identify and reach out to facilities that may benefit from assistance.

Explore efforts in Russia reducing mercury emissions from industrial processes.

Addressing Mercury Use in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining

EPA has led efforts to reduce mercury releases and human exposure in artisanal and small scale gold mining, which is the largest global anthropogenic source of mercury releases to the environment. 

In Senegal, EPA trained miners on the health impacts of mercury, and helped miners reduce risk with practices such as the use of locally-made, hand-held “retorts,” which are small devices that capture mercury vapor.

Addressing Products and Markets Containing Mercury

To address products containing mercury, EPA supported projects to phase out mercury fever thermometers and blood pressure devises in Brazil and South Africa, and to reduce demand for mercury containing products in Bangladesh.

To reduce the supply of mercury in the global market, EPA (working in partnership with UNEP, UNITAR and the Government of Switzerland) assisted the nation of Kyrgyzstan to develop a plan to phase out primary mercury production in the town of Khairdarken in the nation of Kyrgyzstan. 

• View a summary of the Primary Mercury Supply Project