UNEP United Nations Environment Program
The UNEP founding in 1972 is the United Nations’ leading global authority on the environment, driving transformational change on the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature, land and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste.
Here are some of their major publications and reports on plastic pollution:
- Towards a pollution-free planet: background report, 2018. This report describes the pollution challenge, explores what is already being done to address pollution, and proposes 50 focused and actionable interventions to address pollution in all its forms. The report is a call to act towards a pollution-free planet.
- From Pollution to Solution: A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution, 2021. This publication reveals the impact of marine litter and plastic pollution in the environment and their effects on the health of ecosystems, wildlife and humans.
- Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics, 2021. This report provides a complete overview of the global challenges related to marine litter and plastic waste, using graphic illustrations accompanied by condensed descriptions of key thematic areas.
- Understanding the State of the Ocean: A Global Manual on Measuring SDG 14.1.1, SDG 14.2.1 and SDG 14.5.1, 2021. This report aims to provide guidance on how to bring together traditional monitoring techniques with new technologies and data science in order to better monitoring our oceans in the context of the SDGs.
- Gender and waste management: E-waste and plastic waste, 2022. Factsheet.
- Turning off the Tap: How the world can end plastic pollution and create a circular economy, 2023. This report examines the economic and business models needed to address the impacts of the plastics economy
- Global Waste Management Outlook 2024, 2024. This report offers an updated assessment of global waste management and an analysis of data concerning municipal solid waste management worldwide, in response to Resolution 2/7 from the second session (UNEP/EA.2/RES.7) of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) and reaffirmed in Resolution 4/7 from its fourth session (UNEP/EA.4/RES.7),