Assembling the UN’s new panel on chemical waste

Talks currently underway in Thailand will help shape a new scientific panel to advise governments on one of the world’s most pressing issues: pollution.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution is responsible for around seven million deaths per year, while exposure to other hazardous chemicals causes a further two million deaths annually. These figures help explain why pollution is often described as the third planetary crisis, alongside climate change and biodiversity loss.

Last March, the UN passed a series of measures aimed at tackling the pollution crisis. As well as plans for a new treaty on ending plastic pollution, these included a resolution to set up a new science–policy panel to advise on managing chemicals and waste, and preventing pollution. The panel will be similar in stature to the IPCC and IPBES – the bodies that produce the world’s most authoritative reports on climate and biodiversity issues.