Talks open on plastics treaty to defuse environmental 'time bomb'
About 69% of all the plastics produced, mainly through fossil fuel burning, are used just once or twice before they are thrown away. About 22% is mismanaged. Just 9% is recycled.
U.N. Environment (UNEP)
U.N. proposes global 'roadmap' to 80% cut in plastic pollution by 2040
The estimated annual social and environmental costs of plastic pollution range from US$300 billion to $US1.5 trillion.
Global talks kick off on hazardous chemicals and waste management
Virtually all the world's nations are negotiating proposals under the legally binding Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions to limit toxic chemicals, pollutants and wastes.
U.N. panel prepares last report of series to shape climate policy
The head of the U.N.'s Nobel Prize-winning panel of climate experts called for quick action because "make no mistake, inaction and delays are not listed as options."
U.N. agrees to buy $55M crude carrier for removing stranded oil
The stranded supertanker FSO Safer has been moored off the coast of Yemen – toward the end of a pipeline to the oil and gas fields near Marib city – and nearly sank in 2020.
Pollution, climate change feed drug-resistant 'superbugs'
Fed by pollution and climate change, strains of bacteria immune to all known antibiotics may become a major cause of death by mid-century, says the U.N. environment agency.
Study shows efforts to restore Earth's depleted ozone layer are 'on track'
If the policies and trends continue the ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 values – before the appearance of the ozone hole – by around 2066 over the Antarctic, and by 2045 over the Arctic and 2040 for the rest of the world.
Sustainable food cold chain considered a key to reducing waste and combating climate change
Public health officials estimate millions of vaccine doses a year are wasted largely because there's no way to keep them cold. And a U.N. report estimates nearly a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, a lot of it because of spoilage.
The stakes are incredibly high for health at COP27. But will global pledges pull through?
From drought in the Horn of Africa to floods in Pakistan, disease outbreaks and climate-related emergencies tag alongside a global food crisis made by worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. All add to the pressure for real action at the 27th U.N. climate summit.
U.N. declares healthy environment a human right
A second vote in the United Nations solidifies international recognition that everyone's access to a clean and healthy environment is a fundamental right.
Nations approve first guidelines for valuing nature
The IPBES guidelines could prod decision-making beyond just politics and economics to deal with our massive loss of species and rising temperatures.
Ocean summit ends declaring a 'global emergency'
More than 150 nations committed to put science at the heart of renewed efforts to tackle the multiple human-caused crises threatening the ocean.
WTO tackles food, vaccines, fishing subsidies
Hunger, vaccine patents and fishing subsidies top the agenda as the global trade body holds its first ministerial conference in four and a half years.
Treaties link pollution to broader harm
A group of nations is looking at how they can use regulations for hazardous chemicals and wastes to tackle pollution, global warming and species losses.
Wildfires sign of climate 'tinderboxes'
Climate change is devastating the American West, where wildfire season is off to an early, ferocious start. The U.N. says wildfires wreak havoc globally.
Nations to draft plastic waste treaty
Delegates from 175 nations to the U.N. Environment Assembly voted unanimously to devise a treaty that tries to cleanse the world of plastic pollution.