Pure Earth and Clarios Foundation
A UNICEF corporate partner since 2020
Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation and UNICEF launch Protecting Every Child’s Potential, an initiative for a future free from lead exposure.
Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation and UNICEF launched the Protecting Every Child's Potential (PECP) initiative in an online session, featuring interviews with representatives of the PECP founding partners, Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation and UNICEF. Viewers are taken on a field trip to see some of the work being done in Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia and Mexico, to better understand the sources of lead exposure and PECP’s work to mitigate and prevent it.
To watch the launch and learn more about how you can support the PECP, please visit: protectingeverychildspotential.org
A global partnership to protect children from lead exposure
Around 1 in 3 children – up to 800 million globally – have blood lead levels indicative of lead poisoning. Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can cause irreparable harm to child development. Lead poisoning in babies and children under the age of five damages their brains before they have had the opportunity to fully develop, leading to lifelong neurological, cognitive and physical impairment.
Informal, illegal and unsafe recycling of lead-acid batteries is one of the biggest causes of lead exposure in areas where children play, live and go to school.
On 30 July 2020, US non-profit Pure Earth, Clarios Foundation, and UNICEF announced a three-year partnership to work together as founding partners of the Protecting Every Child’s Potential (PECP) initiative to prevent children’s exposure to lead. The PECP partnership aims to mobilize international action and prevent children’s exposure to lead from informal, illegal, substandard lead-acid battery manufacturing, recycling and smelting processes and other sources. Bangladesh, Georgia, Ghana and Indonesia will be the first countries implementing PECP projects in collaboration with the three founding partners. Clarios Foundation and Pure Earth will integrate their work underway in Mexico.
“Protecting children from lead exposure is critical to their development, their communities, societies and economies. This new partnership is a vital step in reducing exposure to lead and creating a safe environment for every child.”
The partners are grounded by the fundamental belief that every child has a right to health and well-being and all children should have the chance to achieve their full potential. They commit to a multi-stakeholder approach to work collaboratively with local and national governments, businesses, United Nations entities, academia and civil society to share best practices and model policies.
The PECP initiative and website launched on 14 October 2020.
We call on other partners to join us to address the emerging health crisis caused by lead exposure, to protect every child’s potential, and help children to thrive in lead-free environments.
To learn more about the initiative and how you can get involved, please email nrees@unicef.org
PECP guiding principles
1. We are grounded by the fundamental belief that every child has a right to health and well-being, and all children should achieve their full potential.
2. We acknowledge we all have a role to help educate governments and the public of the dangers of lead and how they can help protect their children. We are confident solutions to protect children from lead exposure are well within reach and they need not compromise growth, prosperity, or equity.
3. We believe our efforts to protect children from lead exposure must be meaningful, measurable and equitable, and ensure sustained progress towards improving the health and well-being of children.
4. We appreciate that inherent in these principles is the need for government action to implement legislation and set and enforce standards that properly regulate the safe manufacture, usage and, most importantly, smelting of lead-acid batteries.
5. We commit to a multi-stakeholder approach to work collaboratively with local and national governments, businesses, the United Nations system, academia and civil society to share best practices and model policies.
6. We recognize that the task of addressing this global crisis poses a formidable challenge that will not be met overnight. Actions and interventions may need to occur incrementally, and always with the awareness of local conditions and concern for livelihoods.
7. We have the tools to track and measure our progress towards improving the health and well-being of children.
8. It is time to do this.
About the partners
Clarios Foundation is funded by Clarios LLC and is a 2020 signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, committed to aligning its strategies and operations with universal principles focused on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. Clarios Foundation supports three main focus areas: children’s health and the environment, circular economy innovation and entrepreneurship, and sustainable communities.
Pure Earth has a strong track record in addressing lead pollution, solving toxic pollution issues in low- and middle- income countries, raising awareness through groundbreaking research, and implementing projects that show measurable impacts on health.
The PECP strategic approach
A. Mobilize collective action at the country level to prevent lead exposure in support of protecting every child’s potential:
- Promote national ownership and leadership to address lead exposure in children.
- Support the development of national plans to address lead exposure, including support to mainstreaming in existing national programmes, linked to WHO’s risk mitigation recommendations.
- Develop institutional capacity for preventing lead exposure, monitoring lead exposure, education and awareness building, and eliminating the unsafe use of lead.
- Promote community awareness on lead exposure and its impact on child health and well-being.
- Contribute and collaborate with existing global and country initiatives that address lead exposure.
B. Address the existing sources of exposure to lead in low- and middle-income countries:
Determine where people are most affected and identify the relevant sources of exposure to lead.
- Identify, prioritize, and remediate contaminated sites to eliminate specific exposures to children.
- Raise societal awareness of the harm caused by informal smelting and implement interventions to halt the illicit use of lead in products.
C. Assist governments to ensure responsible lead smelting and use:
- Support the development and implementation of policies to prevent harmful informal and illegal smelting as well as illicit use of lead in products.
- Advocate for the adoption and enforcement of standards that provide the same level of protection for all people in all countries.
- Facilitate best-practice-sharing across governments, the private sector, and civil society.
D. Mobilize the private sector to:
- Require batteries are stewarded through safe, responsible, and approved collection and smelting systems.
- Ensure lead is appropriately used in a manner consistent with proven and safe practices and is obtained only from responsible sources.
Last updated 19 October 2020
