Environment

Gathering in Geneva for the Meetings of the Parties to the UNECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention) and the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Ministers and high-level government officials emphasized the crucial importance of these instruments for the sustainable energy transition, as well as for the shift to a more resource-efficient circular economy and the mobilization of trillions of dollars of green financing to realize these changes. 

Parties to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (Air Convention) have agreed to work to revise the Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone (Gothenburg Protocol), which is expected to further strengthen efforts to reduce air pollution in Europe and North America.  

Climate change is a major stress factor for the world’s water resources, heightening risks of conflict in shared basins, threatening health and undermining sustainable development.  

During high-level discussions held at COP28 on the thematic days on Peace, Security, and Health and on Agriculture, Food and Water, UNECE and its partners stressed the critical need for joint water management across borders at the centre of climate change mitigation and adaptation. Key measures discussed include strengthened cooperation under the UN Water Convention. 

Cities are a major driver of climate change, responsible for an estimated 75% of all carbon dioxide emissions globally. With two thirds of humanity projected to live in cities by 2050, cities are at the center of climate action.

The global transport sector has the highest reliance on fossil fuels of any sector. In 2021 it accounted for almost one fourth of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The road transport sector, including passenger cars, buses, heavy and light duty commercial vehicles, is the major GHG contributor of the transport sector, accounting for approximately 77% of global transport related GHG emissions.  

Critical Raw Materials (CRM) like lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, graphite and rare earth elements are crucial for renewable energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and for battery production, driving the global shift to electrification.