The world faces a triple planetary crisis, comprised of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Historically, global responses have tended to leave chemicals, waste, and pollution issues behind. In June 2025, countries established a new Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution (ISP-CWP). Alongside the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) the ISP-CWP completes a “trifecta” of international science-policy bodies to respond to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

The first meeting of the Plenary of the ISP-CWP brought together its 122 Member States to cement its remaining procedural foundations. The work built on the foundational document that outlines the Panel's broad institutional design. The priority was to finalize the rules of procedure to ensure the ISP-CWP can operate smoothly in accordance with the rules agreed to by all Member States.

A range of other policies were discussed to help the Panel quickly move to producing authoritative, rigorous reports. The conflict-of-interest policy has attracted considerable attention, in part because producers privately hold much of the safety data about chemicals. Some view this policy as key to safeguarding the legitimacy of the Panel, protecting it from claims of bias.

The Panel’s broad scope—chemicals, waste, and pollution—is far larger than the scope of the IPCC. The IPCC assesses a handful of greenhouse gases. By some estimates, there are over 350,000 chemicals on the market, in addition to dozens of waste streams, air pollution, and many other challenges. The Plenary considered processes for determining its work programme, that is, which issues to produce reports on, and for producing and adopting these deliverables.

To finalize these institutional foundations, the Plenary was expected to address financial and budgetary arrangements and possibly request the establishment of a Trust Fund to support some experts in their work. It was also hoped that Member States would agree on a location for the Secretariat, with both Kenya and Switzerland offering to host.

The first meeting of the Plenary of the ISP-CWP convened in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2–6 February 2026.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) writers for this meeting were Jennifer Allan, Ph.D.; María Gutiérrez, Ph.D.; and Moritz Petersmann. The Digital Editor was Mike Muzurakis. The Editor was Pam Chasek, Ph.D.