Search the site

Parties and stakeholders to the three global hazardous chemicals and wastes conventions convened online to deal with urgent operational and substantive work including election of officers, the programmes of work and budgets for all three conventions, and a decision regarding the Stockholm Convention’s financial mechanism.

Many participants raised the need for a science-policy interface (SPI) on chemicals and wastes—noting any such body should be global, authoritative, “horizon scanning,” prestigious, independent and inclusive.

Stressing that banning or regulating individual chemicals is insufficient, the event called for fundamental regulations that apply to all chemicals at the global level. 

Convening under the theme “Where Action Meets Ambition,” the event aimed to spur action on 2030 and 2050 climate and energy goals.

The key focus of the delegates was to discuss and agree on a Chair’s Summary to inform the fifth meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) on how best to tackle marine litter and microplastics.

With three potential persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under review and substantial technical work related to implementation of its past recommendations, the Committee successfully completed its full pre-COVID-19 pandemic agenda to avoid delaying action on issues that pose risks to human health and/or the environment.

The Council meetings included extensive discussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, deliberating the pandemic’s impact on project management, and considered a white paper by the GEF COVID-19 Task Force outlining how environmental action can reduce future threats of disease outbreak. The GEF Council also endorsed a new private sector engagement strategy, outlining how the GEF will work in a systematic manner with industry groups, companies, and investors to reverse unsustainable global trends and deliver global environmental benefits.