Environmental Management Cycles for Chemicals and Climate Change, EMC⁴: A new conceptual framework contextualizing climate and chemical risk assessment and management

Abstract

The Environmental Management Cycle for Chemicals and Climate Change (EMC⁴) is a suggested conceptual framework for integrating climate change aspects into chemical risk management. The interaction of climate change and chemical risk brings together complex systems that are imperfectly understood by science. Making management decisions in this context is therefore difficult and often exacerbated by a lack of data. The consequences of poor decision making can be significant for both environmental and human health. This paper reflects on the ways in which existing chemical management systems consider climate change and proposes the EMC⁴ conceptual framework that is a tool for decision makers operating at different spatial scales. Also presented are key questions raised by the tool to help the decision maker identify chemical risks from climate change, management options and, importantly, the different types of actors that are instrumental in managing that risk. Case studies showing decision making at different spatial scales are also presented highlighting the conceptual framework's applicability to multiple scales. The United Nations Environment Programme's development of an intergovernmental Science Policy Panel on Chemicals and Waste has presented an opportunity to promote and generate research highlighting the impacts of chemicals and climate change interlinkages.