In 2004, the Austrian Government and UNIDO launched the joint project “Promotion and implementation of Closing-the-Loops cooperation and business models in the chemical industry”, later renamed the Global Chemical Leasing Project. Several years later, in 2008, the German Government joined this undertaking.

Chemical leasing forms part of UNIDO’s strategy to assist enterprises globally in a variety of aspects related to Green Industry. Over the past few years, this innovative approach has been implemented in a number of different sectors, processes and countries. The first demonstration UNIDO projects started in 2005 and were successfully implemented in close cooperation with the National Cleaner Production Centres in Egypt, Mexico and the Russian Federation, followed by Sri Lanka, Serbia and Colombia in 2008. In addition, some regional activities started in cooperation with the NCPCs in Brazil, Croatia and Nicaragua.

Chemical Leasing is feasible for a broad spectrum of industry sectors and possibilities of utilisation, e.g. for

• cooling and heating operations
• cleaning and purification
• greasing or degreasing of parts
• catalyst use
• powder coating
• lubricating
• biocides
• tin plating
• caps isolation
• phosphating