The Minamata Convention On Mercury Implications And Responses For The Coal Industry

The objectives of this ACARP project were twofold:

· To produce regular briefing documents for ACARP on the development of a global mercury treaty; this report is the fourth and final of these documents;

· To facilitate Australian expert involvement in the Global Mercury Partnership for mercury from coal combustion.

The major outcomes of this project are:

· Early indications of the likely consequences for, and impacts on, the Australian coal industry of an international mercury treaty.

· The ability of the industry to formulate informed contributions to policy and regulatory developments - nationally and internationally.

· Confidence in assessing the market impact of possible legislative, voluntary or economic responses to the mercury treaty.

· Support for expert Australian input into the development of voluntary actions during the treaty development.

This fourth and final report prepared as part of this project includes:

· An update on the scientific and technical issues related to mercury sources and emissions, based largely on:

o Material presented in the 2012 ACARP report;

o The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) 2013 Global Mercury Assessment Report;

o The International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant which took place in Scotland from 28 July - 2 August 2013;

o International Energy Agency (IEA) Mercury Emissions from Coal (MEC) meetings.

· A brief outline of the process which will bring the Convention into force and the first tasks for the Convention's Conference of Parties.

An overview of developments leading to the agreed draft for the Convention was included in the previous progress report.

· An examination of what the Convention's, yet to be developed key measures, Best Available Techniques (BAT) and Best Environmental Practices (BEP) may include.  An overall review of the Convention's key measures was included in the previous progress.

· Timing of the Convention's requirements for participants.

· How implementation of the Convention is likely to proceed in Australia.

· A consideration of mercury removal options and an indication of their relative costs.

· The use of a simple mercury model in conjunction with results from recent mercury emission testing at a small number of Australian power stations.

· A consideration of possible implications for, and responses by, coal producers and users to the measures contained in the Convention or still to be developed, such as BAT, BEP.