The Task Force on Access to Information, under the authority of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), organised a meeting in Geneva on 9–10 November 2023 to share experiences in this field. Chair, Ms. Iordanca-Rodica Iordanov, Minister for Environment of the Republic of Moldova, opened the meeting by stressing the importance of making environment-friendly choices to transition to a green and circular economy. Mr. Marco Keiner, Director, Environment Division, UNECE, noted that UNECE, together with partner organisations, provides a number of tools and platforms to facilitate the widespread implementation of this approach.
Ms. Elisabeth Tuerk Director, Economic Cooperation and Trade Division, UNECE, pointed out that public access to information is essential to tackling the environmental and social costs that global value chains entail, as well as to achieving the transition towards a circular and green economy. Mr. Jorge Laguna-Celis, Director, One Planet Network, UNEP, emphasised that emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain possess huge potential to enhance the traceability and management of materials, resources and components across supply chains.
The participants discussed legal and policy developments in public access to environment-related product information, the use of product passports and other digital tools, means to encourage operators to inform the public and measures against greenwashing. Representatives of the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, Italy, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Aarhus Centres shared the current trends, lessons learned and necessary measures to address existing challenges in this area.
The Task Force identified several legislative and practical measures required to further promote effective public access to environment-related product information, such as awareness-raising, education and training courses, establishing digital product passports and other digital tools, adjusting nationwide digital environmental information systems, eco-labelling, eco-audit and green public procurement schemes. They also discussed the scope of environmental information, access to information on emissions into the environment and the provision of information to public authorities by third parties.