4-Mar-2019: Global Environment Outlook 6

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.

The sixth edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) provides a clear assessment of the current state of the environment, the challenges that we face and how well we have dealt with them, with due consideration given to gender, indigenous knowledge and cultural dimensions. The assessment lays the foundation for continued socio-environmental assessments across relevant scales, with a thematic as well as an integrated focus, enabling and informing societal transitions and the tracking of Sustainable Development Goal targets and goals as well as previously agreed internationally environmental goals. The enhanced policy analysis in this sixth edition is aimed at assisting member states to position themselves on the most effective pathways for transformations toward a sustainable future.

Some Key Messages from the report:

1. The United Nations Environment Programme’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) is the most comprehensive report on the global environment since 2012. It shows that the overall environmental situation globally is deteriorating and the window for action is closing.
2. GEO-6 shows that a healthy environment is both a prerequisite and a foundation for economic prosperity, human health and wellbeing. It addresses the main challenge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: that no one should be left behind, and that all should live healthy, fulfilling lives for the full benefit of all, for both present and future generations.
3. Unsustainable production and consumption patterns and trends and inequality, when combined with increases in the use of resources that are driven by population growth, put at risk the healthy planet needed to attain sustainable development. Those trends are leading to a deterioration in planetary health at unprecedented rates, with increasingly serious consequences, in particular for poorer people and regions.
4. Furthermore, the world is not on track to achieve the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals or other internationally agreed environmental goals by 2030; nor is it on track to deliver long-term sustainability by 2050. Urgent action and strengthened international cooperation are urgently needed to reverse those negative trends and restore planetary and human health.
5. Past and present greenhouse gas emissions have already committed the world to an extended period of climate change with multiple and increasing environmental and society-wide risks.

11-Mar-2019: Global Chemicals Outlook II: From Legacies to Innovative Solutions

The Global Chemicals Outlook II – From Legacies to Innovative Solutions: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, mandated by the UN Environment Assembly in 2016, seeks to alert policymakers and other stakeholders to the critical role of the sound management of chemicals and waste in sustainable development. It takes stock of global trends as well as progress made and gaps in achieving the global goal to minimize the adverse impacts from chemicals and waste by 2020.

The Global Chemicals Outlook II finds that the global goal to minimize adverse impacts of chemicals and waste will not be achieved by 2020. Solutions exist, but more ambitious worldwide action by all stakeholders is urgently required.

The Global Chemicals Outlook II has been prepared over the past three years through a process involving more than 400 scientists and experts around the world under the guidance of the Steering Committee of the Global Chemicals Outlook II with participation from all regions and a wide range of stakeholders. The report has been developed in response to Governing Council decision 27/12, adopted in 2013, and United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 2/7, adopted in 2016.

Key findings

1. The size of the global chemical industry exceeded United States dollars 5 trillion in 2017. It is projected to double by 2030. Consumption and production are rapidly increasing in emerging economies. Global supply chains, and the trade of chemicals and products, are becoming increasingly complex.
2. Driven by global megatrends, growth in chemical-intensive industry sectors (e.g. construction, agriculture, electronics) creates risks, but also opportunities to advance sustainable consumption, production and product innovation.
3. Hazardous chemicals and other pollutants (e.g. plastic waste and pharmaceutical pollutants) continue to be released in large quantities. They are ubiquitous in humans and the environment and are accumulating in material stocks and products, highlighting the need to avoid future legacies through sustainable materials management and circular business models.
4. The benefits of action to minimize adverse impacts have been estimated in the high tens of billions of United States dollars annually. The World Health Organization estimated the burden of disease from selected chemicals at 1.6 million lives in 2016 (this is likely to be an underestimate). Chemical pollution also threatens a range of ecosystem services.
5. International treaties and voluntary instruments have reduced the risks of some chemicals and wastes, but progress has been uneven and implementation gaps remain. As of 2018, more than 120 countries had not implemented the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.
6. Addressing legislation and capacity gaps in developing countries and emerging economies remains a priority. Also, resources have not matched needs. There are opportunities for new and innovative financing (e.g. through cost recovery and engagement of the financial sector).
7. Significant resources can be saved by sharing knowledge on chemical management instruments more widely, and by enhancing mutual acceptance of approaches in areas ranging from chemical hazard assessment to alternatives assessment.
8. Frontrunner companies - from chemical producers to retailers - are introducing sustainable supply chain management, full material disclosure, risk reduction beyond compliance, and human rights-based policies. However, widespread implementation of these initiatives has not yet been achieved.
9. Consumer demand, as well as green and sustainable chemistry education and innovation (e.g. though start-ups), are among the important drivers of change. They can be scaled up through enabling policies, reaping the potential benefits of chemistry innovations for sustainable development.
10. Global knowledge gaps can be filled. This can be achieved, for example, by taking steps to harmonize research protocols, considering health or environmental impact information and harm caused to set and address priorities (e.g. emerging issues), and strengthening the science-policy interface through enhanced collaboration of scientists and decision-makers.