23 February 2011: The European Commission (EC) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) issued a joint statement to signal the renewal of their political will to consolidate, develop and increase their cooperation and effectiveness to achieve their common goals and objectives. The cooperation outlined in this statement, for the period 2011-2013, builds on the EC’s and UNEP’s work together for the environment under a Memorandum of Understanding agreed in 2004.

The statement sets out several priority areas for cooperation, including on global environmental governance and green growth. On environmental governance, priority areas for cooperation include: increasing UNEP’s effectiveness and impact to improve the ability of the UN system and of individual countries to address environmental challenges; increasing cooperation with multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), particularly those for which UNEP provides a secretariat; supporting collaboration among MEAs in order to facilitate their effective implementation, in particular in the chemicals/waste and biodiversity areas; supporting UN system-wide coherence and cooperation in the field of the environment by integrating environmental sustainability into country UN Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF); assisting in environmental mainstreaming by national governments and multilateral organizations, including through the Poverty and Environment Initiative of UNEP and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and coordination of activities under the UN Environment Management Group (EMG); fostering joint environmental assessments; supporting other international processes, as well as international civil society advocacy groups; and strengthening the capacity of developing countries to participate in international negotiations, including through better access to information on ongoing international processes.

On the green economy, priority areas for cooperation include: supporting governments and the private sector to improve their capacities to design and implement policies, laws and management actions that promote the production and consumption of resource-efficient and sustainable goods and services; supporting governments in the development of macroeconomic assessments, the production and application of socio-economic indicators, the design of enabling policy frameworks, including relevant policies, and the use of economic instruments in promoting the transition to a green economy; organizing in-depth scientific assessment and study on the sustainable use of natural resources and their environmental impacts over the full life cycle, and on the decoupling of economic growth from environmental degradation, to provide policy makers and other stakeholders with the best available information and policy options; disseminating public communication materials and conducting educational and public awareness campaigns on the benefits of resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production (SCP); advancing resource efficiency collaboration; and supporting UN system collaboration towards a successful UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio 2012).

The EU and UNEP are expected to announce the precise funding arrangements and other projects to be started under the new strategic cooperative partnership in the coming months. [UNEP Press Release] [Publication: EU-UNEP Joint Statement]