Preventing, controlling and managing pollution is central to improving health, human well-being and prosperity for all.
UNEP drives capacity and leadership in sound management of chemicals and waste while working to improve ways to reduce waste through circularity and pollutants released to the air, water, soil and the ocean.
The potential of wastewater was highlighted at UNEA-7. Wastewater can be a high-value resource: when treated appropriately, it can be a source for affordable nutrients, clean water, and renewable energy. It could provide more than 10 times the current desalination capacity, clean energy for 500 million people, and offset 10% of global fertilizer use, as highlighted in the UNEA-7 associated event. Speakers called for solutions to unlock the full potential of wastewater, involving coordinated efforts with governments, the private sector, development banks and communities.
At UNEA-7, governments, industry leaders and civil society underscored that full, reliable product information is essential for reducing pollution and waste and for advancing global efforts on safer chemicals management. One event highlighted how credible ecolabels help counter greenwashing and guide safer markets, with Isabella Huang-Loh of the Global Ecolabelling Network noting that “products must truly meet rigorous environmental standards.”
Another session focused on Digital Product Information Systems, which provide data on materials, chemicals and product lifespans to enable repair, reuse and safer recycling. Speakers emphasized that comparable, interoperable data and strong partnerships are crucial reflecting a core principle of the Global Framework on Chemicals and UNEP’s wider pollution agenda: transparency is fundamental to building cleaner, safer and more circular value chains.
Since its launch on World Environment Day 2025, more than 2,000 stakeholders have signed up to the Global Plastics Hub, a one-stop access to data, resources, and expert network across the plastics lifecycle, enabling evidence-based and collaborative action worldwide.
The Global Plastics Hub was presented to UNEA-7 attendees today to showcase the Hub’s key functionalities and data, and explore its future evolution along with Member States and members of the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML), the largest global multi-stakeholder partnership on plastics, for which UNEP provides secretariat services. Watch the session.
Amid the global rising demand for minerals and metals, a new report maps over 100 Sustainability Standards and Initiatives operating across value chains to clarify how these interact with laws, regulations and policy commitments, and how they might enhance environmental governance rather than undermine it.
The study finds that while these standards and initiatives are increasingly used to promote environmental and social performance, their rapid proliferation has created a fragmented and often confusing landscape for governments, companies and communities. To address these challenges, the report identifies 15 hallmarks of effective sustainability standards across governance, scope, performance assurance, review mechanisms, and viability. Learn more about what these standards and initiatives are and how they can strengthen environmental governance?
Delegates to the Youth Environment Assembly 2025 joined the launch of “Beyond an age of waste: Turning rubbish into a resource - Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 for Youth", a publication developed jointly by UNEP, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), and the Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP (CYMG). The report summarizes essential findings of the Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 and underscores the essential role of young people in advancing zero-waste solutions.
Are you a young person under the age of 35 and interested in joining the Beat Pollution movement? Children and youth representatives to UNEP launched the #YouthToBeatPollution campaign at the Youth Environment Assembly 2025, ahead of the Seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7). Join the Children and Youth Major Group (CYMG) #YouthToBeatPollution campaign.
UNEP’s youth-led action movement against plastic pollution, the Tide Turner Plastic Challenge, received the top recognition of the Prince Talal International Prize for Human Development, acknowledging its transformative impact in catalysing youth action to combat plastic pollution across Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Madagascar.
Reaching 1 million young people across 61 countries, the program has grown into one of the world’s largest youth platforms on marine protection and reduction of plastic pollution.
The Digital Knowledge Hub on Environmental Aspects of Minerals and Metals is a global gateway facilitating access to curated knowledge products, tools, datasets and capacity-building materials, organized around seven themes: Policies and Standards, Value Chain Aspects, Sand, Platforms for International Cooperation, Tailings, Mine Closure.
The hub, mandated by UNEA resolution 6/5 on the environmental aspects of minerals and metals, provides the infrastructure to host online communities of practice to enable peer-to-peer exchanges and multistakeholder engagement.
Cada dólar gastado en la restauración de bosques degradados puede resultar en US$ 30 en beneficios económicos.
