About Global Assessments

The GEO global assessments provide an integrated analysis (e.g. social, economic, environmental) of major trends that have shaped the environment. These reports provide world leaders with policy options to take immediate action to address environmental issues by turning environmental discussions into practice. Using the integrated environmental assessment (IEA) methodology, UNEP has produced five GEO reports and a set of reginal GEOs thus far, which have analyzed environmental state and trends at the global and regional scales, described plausible outlooks for various time frames and formulated policy options.

They are presented here with links to the underlying assessments  GEO-1GEO-2000 , GEO-3 , GEO-4 , GEO-5 , GEO-6 Regional Assessments, GEO-6 Global Assessment

Reports

Global Environment Outlook-6

Published in time for the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly, UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (2019) calls on decision makers to take immediate action to address pressing environmental issues to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals as well as other Internationally Agreed Environment Goals, such as the Paris Agreement.

GEO-6 builds on the findings of previous GEO reports, including the six regional...

Global Environment Outlook-5

The Global Environment Outlook: Environment for the future we want (GEO-5) is part of this broad sweep of history, and is a major contribution to the public understanding of the way ecosystems and the atmosphere are responding to patterns of unprecedented consumption and production – patterns...

Global Environment Outlook 4

The fourth Global Environment Outlook – environment for development ( GEO-4 ) places sustainable development at the core of the assessment, particularly on issues dealing with intra- and intergenerational equity. The analyses include the need and usefulness of valuation of environmental goods...

Global Environment Outlook 3

The third UNEP Global Environment Outlook report ( GEO-3 ) provides an opportune brief for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), to be held later this year in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is a feat of collaboration between UNEP and some 1 000 individuals and 40...

GEO-2000

UNEP launched the Global Environment Outlook (GEO) Project in 1995. It has two components:

  1. A global environmental assessment process, the GEO Process, that is cross-sectoral and participatory. It incorporates regional views and perceptions, and builds consensus on priority issues and actions through dialogue among policy-makers and scientists at regional and global levels.
  2. GEO outputs, in printed and electronic formats, including the GEO Report series. This series makes periodic reviews of the state of the world’s environment, and provides guidance for decision making processes such as the formulation of environmental policies, action planning and resource allocation. Other outputs include technical reports, a Web site and a publication for young people.

Global Environment Outlook 1

GEO-1 is the first product of the GEO Project. GEO-1 describes the environmental status and trends in seven regions; it summarizes developments over time in regional policy responses; the report concludes with an exploration, based on model analysis, of what we might expect in the future for a selected number of environmental issues if no major policy reforms are initiated. It incorporates regional views and perceptions and aims at building consensus on priority issues....