Environmental degradation is claiming millions of lives and costing trillions annually, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Environment Outlook report says.
The UNEP calls its Global Environment Outlook, Seventh Edition: A Future We Choose (GEO-7), the ‘most comprehensive assessment of the global environment ever undertaken’.
The report says that investing in a stable climate, healthy land and nature, and a pollution-free planet could deliver annual gains of at least US$20 trillion, avoid millions of deaths, and lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and hunger.
A key enabling factor of this approach is moving away from GDP to indicators that also track human and natural capital, which would incentivise a circular economy, energy decarbonisation, sustainable agriculture, and ecosystem restoration.
Dan Cooke, the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) Director of Policy, Communications, and External Affairs, said the report made for ‘sobering reading’.
“It also demonstrates that these are economic and social issues, not ‘just’ environmental ones,” Cooke said. “Scenario modelling in the report shows that environmental and social goals can be achieved, but require unprecedented transformation of interconnected governance and energy, food, materials and economic systems.”
“The cost of solutions will be substantially less than the cost of inaction as the world heads towards peak population in the late 21st century.”
The report was released during the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in Nairobi, and is the product of 287 multi-disciplinary scientists from 82 countries.
However, the co-chair of the report, British chemist Sir Robert Watson, told the BBC that the report had been ‘hijacked’ by the United States and other countries who refused to endorse the scientific findings.
Cooke continued: “Produced by c.300 scientists worldwide, the report suggests that ‘the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the energy we consume all involve the extraction of resources in a highly unsustainable manner’.”
“The UK Government’s Circular Economy Growth Plan, expected in early 2026, should outline pathways to address these issues.”
“While it’s concerning that a small number of member states could not support a summary and recommendations of the report, and may use disinformation to undermine its findings, the science will speak for itself, and the multilateral approach has always progressed despite challenges.”