U.N. starts unloading oil from Yemen tanker to prevent disaster
Without U.N. intervention, the tanker could have released as much as four times the oil spilled by the Exxon Valdez in 1989.
U.N. Environment (UNEP)
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Paris summit approves drafting global plastic pollution treaty
The summit ended with support for creating a "zero draft" treaty ahead of the next negotiations at Nairobi in November.
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. proposes global 'roadmap' to 80% cut in plastic pollution by 2040
The estimated annual social and environmental costs of plastic pollution range from $300 billion to $1.5 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. panel of climate experts called for quick action because 'inaction and delays are not listed as options.'
U.N. agrees to buy $55M crude carrier to prevent oil spill in Red Sea
A stranded supertanker, moored off the coast of Yemen near a pipeline to oil and gas fields, nearly sank in 2020.
Pollution and climate change feeding drug-resistant 'superbugs'
Strains of bacteria immune to all known antibiotics may become a major cause of death by mid-century.
Study shows efforts to restore Earth's depleted ozone layer are 'on track'
The ozone layer is expected to recover to 1980 values by around 2066 over the Antarctic and by 2045 over the Arctic.
Biodiversity summit poses call to act, decade of protections on line
UNEP's chief describes the summit as an opportunity to 'secure our life-support system, to make peace with nature.'
Sustainable food cold chain key to fighting waste and climate change
Millions of vaccine doses a year and nearly a third of all food produced is lost or wasted, according to new estimates.
High stakes for COP27 summit as climate becomes a health crisis too
Drought, floods, disease outbreaks and a global food crisis add pressure for real action at the U.N. climate summit in Egypt.
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.