The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an international institution and the designated authority within the UN system for coordinating global environmental efforts. It was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1972, following the UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972. The creation of UNEP was a response to the rising concerns about pollution in the 1960s and the formal acceptance that development and the environment are inextricably linked. Its headquarters are located in Nairobi, Kenya.
UNEP's mandate is to provide leadership, deliver science, and develop solutions for the three planetary crises: climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. Its mechanism involves monitoring the global environment, bringing concerns to governments, and developing international environmental agreements. The organization's governing body is the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), which replaced the Governing Council in 2012. The UNEA is the world's highest-level decision-making body on the environment.
UNEP is connected to several major global initiatives and institutions. It co-established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988. Furthermore, it hosts the secretariats for key Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), such as the Montreal Protocol (1987), the Basel Convention (1989), and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Currently, a significant focus is the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, which aims to be completed by the end of 2024. UNEP also works to help nations achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).