Energy & Environment

CITES is a multilateral treaty that covers over 40,000 species.

CITES showdown looms on elephant ivory and rhino horn trade bans

3 min read

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The global wildlife treaty is charged with regulating trade in 40,920 species, including 6,610 animals and 34,310 plants.

Energy & Environment

Minamata Convention pivots to enforcement, illegal trade control

3 min read

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A new strategy will focus heavily on controlling black market flows, leveraging a decision to phase-out dental amalgam.

Officials open the Minamata Convention COP-6 in Geneva to strengthen global action on mercury pollution.

Energy & Environment

Minamata Convention mandates global phase-out of dental amalgam

3 min read

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The decision on dental amalgam was counterbalanced by the greater challenge of artisanal and small-scale gold mining.

Benjamin Von Wong’s The Thinker’s Burden, an art installation surrounded by plastic trash, drew attention outside the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Energy & Environment

UNEP schedules session to organize the resumption of plastic treaty talks

2 min read

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Negotiators must finish the financial mechanism and agree on binding measures to phase out toxic chemicals in plastics.

Efforts to elevate the voices and roles of Indigenous peoples and local communities came to fruition at a first meeting as part of a new U.N. panel.

Energy & Environment

U.N. treaty's new Indigenous panel bolsters 'environmental democracy'

3 min read

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A new subsidiary of the Convention on Biological Diversity ended its inaugural session deciding how to be integrated.

Over 4,000 mercury-containing lamps were replaced in 2024 at Geneva's International Environment House where the Minamata Convention's Secretariat is headquartered.

Energy & Environment

Mercury treaty shifts strategy to aim at dental fillings, illegal cosmetics

4 min read

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In the shadow of a decades-long toxic legacy, nations have been cracking down on mercury pollution with mixed results.

Energy & Environment

A lifeline for the ocean: U.N. High Seas Treaty secures ratification

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A global treaty that took almost two decades to create will become law early next year, enabling conservation areas.

The treaty is nearing the 60 nations needed to take effect.

Energy & Environment

Negotiators debate funding and governance for high seas treaty

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The U.N.-brokered treaty is close to becoming law, with 52 countries signed on and eight more needed to make it official.

Heni Unwin, a Māori marine scientist with the Aotearoa Plastic Pollution Alliance, speaks at a rally outside the U.N.'s Palais des Nations in Geneva during the plastic treaty talks.

Energy & Environment

Advocates see human rights path forward for stalled plastic treaty

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Leaders argue any successful treaty must be built on partnership with and respect for Indigenous communities.

After a 5:30 a.m. plenary was announced, the chair of the global plastic treaty talks was still waiting for delegages to fill the assembly hall inside the U.N.'s Palais des Nations at 6 a.m.

Energy & Environment

Back to Busan: Global plastic pollution treaty talks end in disarray

5 min read

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The U.N.-hosted talks failed to overcome opposition to reducing plastic production among oil and gas producers.

Demonstrators with the Break Free From Plastic global movement demand a strong global plastics treaty in Geneva.

Energy & Environment

Deadlock on production, chemicals as global plastic treaty talks falter

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The latest draft text omitted any legally-binding production limits and a dedicated section on chemicals of concern.

With just one day left for negotiations, delegates to the plastic treaty talks fiercely debated the new draft of a global plastic pollution treaty that would not limit plastic production.

Energy & Environment

Draft U.N. plastic treaty lacks teeth on production and chemicals

3 min read

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Many nations rejected a draft that avoids setting quantitative caps on production, relying on a less stringent approach.

Human rights experts and scientists say a lack of transparency by the plastics industry prevents people from making informed decisions about their exposure.

Energy & Environment

Study indicates global involuntary exposure to toxic plastic chemicals

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A global network of nonprofit groups advocating for stronger regulation underscored the need for a plastic treaty.

A mosaic of irrigated crops in South Africa.

Energy & Environment

Scientists urge global food system overhaul to avert farmland crisis

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Their plan would ‘bend the curve’ of land degradation by reducing food waste and restoring half of degraded lands.

European Commissioner Jessika Roswall speaks to reporters inside the U.N.'s Palais des Nations alongside Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunick.

Energy & Environment

Global plastics treaty 'drama' on a knife-edge over production caps

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European officials say they will not accept a deal 'at any cost' but maintain the bloc is ready to 'build bridges' to succeed.

Midway through the final Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, campaigners says nations are not on track to deliver a treaty that will protect people and nature.

Energy & Environment

U.N. plastic treaty talks face deep divisions as deadline nears

5 min read

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Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso, who chairs the proceedings, said 'progress made has not been sufficient.'

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