Key Takeaways from the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention COP meetings:

Basel outcomes:

- Parties included the full scope of e-waste in its controls and started work on lithium-ion and other batteries. E-waste shipments contain plastic, metals, and potentially hazardous chemicals. For developing countries, e-waste represents a serious health and environmental threat. Now, all countries will have information about what’s in each shipment, and they can refuse it, as the entire e-waste stream is now covered by the Convention.
- Instead of focusing almost exclusively on technical work, parties are using the Convention’s legal mechanisms to respond to waste concerns. The Basel Convention’s plastics amendments make it a central body in the newly-launched negotiations of an agreement on plastics pollution.

Rotterdam outcomes:

- Parties agreed to list two substances—decabromodiphenyl ether (decaBDE) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) to the PIC Procedure.

Stockholm outcomes:

- Parties agreed to phase-out perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), an industrial chemical used in products such as firefighting foams, stain-resistant fabrics, and grease-resistant food packaging.
- Parties are required to end the use of PCB containing oil in equipment by 2025, and ensure environmentally sound waste management of liquids containing PCBs and equipment contaminated with PCBs by 2028.
- Several developing country parties emphasized that funding for implementation is key to any future agreements to establish a compliance mechanism.
More details in the full ENB report here: