UN Environment Assembly

IPEN at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA)

IPEN members from around the world participate in the annual meetings of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA), advocating for strong global protections from toxic chemicals, including successfully working for adoption of the resolution for a Plastics Treaty at UNEA-5.

UNEA is the world’s top decision-making body on the environment, aiming to help restore harmony between humanity and nature and improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Recent Updates: IPEN at UNEA

IPEN participates in UNEA meetings, bringing original research and policy analyses to the deliberations.

In 2025, at UNEA-7, IPEN raised concerns about the potential for new challenges to the Plastics Treaty negotiations.

At UNEA-6 in 2024, IPEN released two new reports:

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Threats to Human Health provides a comprehensive update on the state of the science around EDCs, with increasing evidence that this large group of toxic substances may be implicated in rising global health concerns.
The Global Threat from Highly Hazardous Pesticides highlights ongoing health and environmental risks from HHPs, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

UNEA-5 IPEN Press Briefing

In 2022, IPEN presented a well-attended press briefing at UNEA-5 calling for a health-protective Plastics Treaty to end threats from toxic plastic chemicals.

UNEA-5 and the Plastics Treaty

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, UNEA-5 was held in two parts: the first in February 2021 followed by UNEA-5.2 in March 2022.

At UNEA-5.2, the Assembly adopted an historic resolution calling for the development of a global Plastics Treaty. IPEN strongly advocated for the Treaty, calling for an agreement to address toxic chemicals used in plastics and chemical threats throughout the plastics life cycle.

Click below to see IPEN’s Quick Views for UNEA-5.2