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Excellencies,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about UNEP’s work and key upcoming moments to strengthen multilateral action on the environment.
Even amid a complex geopolitical context, the need for such action has never been stronger. Climate change. Accelerating land degradation and desertification. The loss of nature and biodiversity. Growing pollution and waste. These are all challenges that threaten prosperity, health, peace and equity.
But investing in the clean energy transition, in restorative and regenerative nature and addressing pollutants and waste helps advance the Sustainable Development Goals. Supports strong economies and bottom lines. Creates jobs. Protects human health. Builds peace and security. Reduces forced migration.
A healthy planet is undoubtedly foundational to human health, prosperity and equity, and to sustainable economic growth. And environmental multilateralism is our best option to secure a healthy planet that benefits all.
UNEP, as the leading global authority on the environment, is here to support Member States with science, know-how and convening power as they act – as we have done for over 50 years, by backing agreements and actions that set the ozone layer on the road to recovery, phased out lead in petrol and protected many species and ecosystems.
But the world has much more work to do. And there are some key opportunities for multilateralism to accelerate action on the environment this year.
Let us begin with the critical task of bolstering science.
You will shortly hear from Dr. Anne Larigauderie, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, or IPBES. She will be presenting the IPBES Nexus Assessment, which highlights the interconnected crises of biodiversity, water, food, health and climate – and, of course, land degradation and desertification. This crucial report tells us that implementation of nature-positive models could unlock US$10 trillion in business opportunities and create 400 million jobs by 2030.
IPBES is, of course, a companion to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC. These two panels have been crucial in generating the science that drives action on climate change and biodiversity loss. Without them, the world would be in a far darker place than it is today. Now we are looking to complete this duo with a third, a science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution.
The issue of pollution and waste is high on the agenda this year, and many of you will be aware of the event that took place here last week to mark the International Day of Zero Waste on the theme of fashion and textile waste. My thanks to Türkiye for their leadership.
The resumed third session of the ad hoc open-ended working group on the new chemicals, waste and pollution panel is to take place in Punta del Este, Uruguay from 14 to 20 June 2025. It is crucial to get the panel up and running to complete the triplet of panels so that, together, they can provide the best science for individual nations to take informed decisions and define their own path.
Let me please also draw your attention to an upcoming briefing on 8 April by Janez Potočnik, Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel. His briefing will share insights on resource efficiency and a circular economy and how these approaches can deliver on Agenda 2030, economic prosperity and planetary sustainability.
Another important milestone arrives in August with resumed talks on plastic pollution.
Nations are closing in on a legally binding global instrument to end plastic pollution – talks on which were agreed by all countries unanimously at the fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly in 2022.
Billions of tonnes of plastic waste are generated each year. Week by week, new science emerges showing that plastic pollution is ending up in vital ecosystems as well as in almost every part of human body.
The good news is that the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee – the INC – talks on the instrument to end plastic pollution will recommence in August, in Geneva, Switzerland. We have strong momentum and good convergence across much of the Chair’s Text developed in Busan, Republic of Korea, at the end of last year.
Three areas still require significant work at INC-5.2.
The first area is additives in plastic products. Nobody wants chemicals to leak into the environment or harm people. The challenge is how to define or limit chemicals, and how to account for those needed for other uses. Looking at exposure risk from chemicals in products may be an avenue to pursue.
The second area is sustainable production and consumption. UNEA-5 gave us a clear path on this issue, but I recognise there are diverse views amongst Members. However, SDG 12 on Sustainable Consumption and Production gives us a clear vision field of the possible pathway forward.
The third area is financing. This is, of course, key for developing countries and Small Island Developing States who are already dealing with the impacts of the plastic pollution crisis. A final treaty text can support them, and all Members, by providing clarity, putting in place a mechanism, enabling implementation and catalysing funding.
A big political push is urgently needed to build consensus in these areas ahead of INC-5.2.
We are looking at possible regional consultations, Heads of Delegation meetings, and High-level ministerial engagement, including during the Third UN Ocean Conference – where the INC is amongst France’s priorities under the Conference’s Ocean Governance pillar.
We are encouraging attendance of INC-5.2 at ministerial level to close complex negotiating items and ensure that the treaty leads to the elimination of plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
Looking further ahead, the end of the year will bring the next session of the UN Environment Assembly, or UNEA.
UNEA is the home of environmental multilateralism. It is where Member States set the environmental agenda, from multilateral standards and targets to creating new global frameworks and instruments. UNEA decides, and the environmental agenda moves.
Held in Nairobi, Kenya, the global capital of environmental diplomacy, UNEA unites everyone. Civil society and major stakeholders. The private sector. International organizations and UN Agencies.
This year, UNEA-7 will push us forward even faster under the theme of ‘Advancing Sustainable Solutions for a Resilient Planet’. At UNEA-7, there will be an emphasis on joined-up action across the planetary environmental crises, with a dedicated day on Multilateral Environmental Agreements, or MEAs, taking place. I encourage all Member States to bring important and meaningful priorities to the table in December.
Speaking of MEAs, let me briefly update you on some key milestones.
UNEP is privileged to host and administer the secretariats of over two dozen MEAs, regional conventions and scientific panels. Working with Member States, industry and civil society this big environmental family has marked many successes
Together we have set the ozone layer on the road to recovery through action under the Vienna Convention and Montreal Protocol. Protected many species and vast areas of land and sea. Raised the profile of desertification and land degradation action. Controlled transboundary movement of hazardous waste and addressed phasing out of persistent organic pollutants.
Even in challenging times, we saw this multilateralism deliver at the resumed 16th session of the Convention on Biological Diversity COP in Rome in February. There, countries showed strong support for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
A resource mobilization strategy was agreed to close the biodiversity finance gap and mobilize funds from all sources. Indicators to measure progress on implementation were gavelled. And the Cali Fund was launched to help ensure the equitable sharing of benefits from the commercial use of biodiversity’s genetic sequencing information.
This month, we look to make further progress. At the end of April, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions are holding their meetings of the Conferences of the Parties in Geneva. These three conventions have prompted concerted international action in chemical and waste management over the decades and will now take further decisions to support countries.
Under the theme ‘Make Visible the Invisible: sound management of chemicals and wastes’, the meetings of the Conferences of the Parties are to take decisions on enhanced legal clarity, a strategic framework, prior informed consent procedures, e- waste, plastic waste, the listing of new chemicals and more.
I would also like to request your support in ratifying the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol. This crucial amendment could prevent up to 0.5°C of warming by 2100 through hydrofluorocarbons phase-down – and even more if energy efficiency upgrades are included. To achieve universal ratification and maximum impact, we need another 35 ratifications. I call on those remaining parties to ratify the amendment by the tenth anniversary of its adoption on 15 October 2026.
Many other MEAs face important developments this year, including the climate convention. Here, UNEP is proactively supporting Member States to update their Nationally Determined Contributions ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Let me also stress that more and more countries are concluding that tackling climate change makes sense on its own merits. Climate action is no-regrets action. It is good for everyone, everywhere.
I also look forward to increased political momentum to ratify the BBNJ Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction so it can enter into force. The upcoming meeting of the Preparatory Commission later this month, here in New York, will also ensure we are ready to quickly implement BBNJ priorities once ratified. Another key moment will be the UN Oceans Conference later this year.
Excellencies,
We increasingly talk about what a connected, global world we live in. But we have always been connected by global climate patterns, by the air we breathe, by the waters that circulate around the planet.
The environment is not just the basis of one nation’s survival or prosperity. The environment is the basis of all nations’ survival and prosperity. The environment is a common resource – our common resource.
So, I ask Member States to back multilateralism, back the important processes I have laid out, and back a healthy environment, for people and planet.
