Inger Andersen, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has been at the forefront of global efforts to combat climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. She has more than 30 years of experience in international development economics, environmental sustainability, strategy and operations.
She has led work on a range of issues including agriculture, environmental management, biodiversity conservation, climate change, infrastructure, energy, transport, and water resources management and hydro-diplomacy.
Between 1999 and 2014, Ms. Andersen held several leadership positions at the World Bank including Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa; Vice President for Sustainable Development and Head of the CGIAR Fund Council. Prior to her 15 years at the World Bank, Ms. Andersen worked 12 years at the United Nations, first on drought and desertification, beginning with the UN Sudano-Sahelian Office. In 1992, she was appointed UNDP’s Water and Environment Coordinator for the Arab Region. In this article, she reveals how youth engagement provides optimism for the future, and the initiatives in place to protect our planet.
How can we encourage new generations to understand the importance of adopting environmentally sustainable practices in their daily lives?
As we have seen over recent years, young people today are standing up and making their voices heard – teaching older generations along the way. The youth movement has had a fundamental role in accelerating global engagement and progress in addressing what we at UNEP refer to as the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature, land and biodiversity loss, and UNEP’s crisis of waste and pollution.
My experience working with young people across the world is that they are acutely aware of the challenges we face and continue to be a driving force for change. Around 70% of young people consider climate change a global emergency, with millions actively engaging in action through activism, education and designing new solutions.
At UNEP, we work to increase sustainable practises within both formal and non-formal education systems to ensure we can support young people across the world. UNEP has developed a range of initiatives – from Playing for the Planet Alliance to the Sustainable Lifestyles Action Academy – to encourage sustainable behaviour. Tide Turners, for example, is the largest youth-led movement tackling plastic pollution, with more than 850,000 young people across 61 countries gaining the tools to reduce their own plastic footprints and to convince their communities to do the same.
What role does youth engagement play in UNEP’s strategies for environmental sustainability?
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. Guided by science, we work with and support countries to create policies that address the triple planetary crisis to secure a sustainable future.
Meaningful youth engagement in our work is key to help shape this sustainable future. This is why UNEP has several youth engagement mechanisms, including youth councils, advisory boards and the Children and Youth Major Group to UNEP. This allows young people from all corners of the planet to feed into a wide range of UNEP’s projects and programs and provide substantive comments to our work, always ensuring that youth perspectives are heard and taken on board.
We are also working hard to ensure our own UNEP team has strong youth representation. UNEP’s Young Talent Pipeline – a flagship initiative to attract young professionals – has already welcomed a couple of cohorts of colleagues from around the world. UNEP, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF’s Green Jobs for Youth Pact is also working with young people to accelerate a just transition to a low carbon, circular economy through commitments from a range of stakeholders from governments to educational institutions.
How can sound, chemical and waste management generate economic, environmental, and health benefits?
Chemicals are a ubiquitous part of modern life and a multi trillion-dollar industry, so their sound management is essential for achieving sustainable development and for our economies to thrive. The cost of inaction of curbing chemical pollution could be as high as 10% of global GDP. Pollution in general, including air pollution, is estimated to be responsible for at least nine million deaths a year globally, or one in six fatalities.
Chemical and waste pollution seeps into our soil, our water, our food and ultimately into our bodies, harming our health and economies in many ways. One in three children worldwide have dangerously high blood lead levels, which has been linked to neurological damage, lower intelligence quotient scores and diminished academic achievement. As a result, the global cost of lead exposure was US$6 trillion in 2019, equivalent to almost 7% of global GDP. But change is happening and the global end to the use of leaded fuels is a strong testimony of how tackling pollution can protect people and planet. An estimated 1.2 million lives have been saved annually by leaded fuel bans.
To prevent and minimize the adverse impact chemicals have on human and planetary health, in September 2023 the world agreed to the Global Framework on Chemicals. This milestone agreement presents a plan for governments, non-governmental organizations and the private sector to manage chemicals and waste sustainably, and support innovation to ensure chemical products are safer by design.
An estimated six million jobs could be created by transitioning towards a circular economy which involves replacing our traditional linear model of take, make and waste with new practices that start from product design for circularity and a more green and sustainable chemistry.
One way countries are trying to support greater circularity and recycling efforts is through ongoing negotiations to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. This follows the historic resolution at the fifth UN Environment Assembly where countries agreed to forge an internationally legally binding agreement to address the full lifecycle of plastics, including its production, design and disposal. Talks will resume this August in Geneva.
Can you tell us what practices you adopt in your daily life to combat the planetary crisis?
Like many people across the world, I adopt daily habits to reduce my waste and impact on the planet. From biking and walking wherever possible, to my reusable flask that comes with me everywhere for all the tea I drink, these habits are often not only good for the planet, but also for our health too.
I have the honor of living in Kenya, a country that has set impressive targets to beat plastic pollution.
As part of that commitment, single use plastic bags are banned and why I – like I do wherever I am in the world – always carry reusable bags.
This year’s International Day of Zero Waste Day theme looks at zero waste in fashion and textiles. This is something I am particularly passionate about and am proud to have many items of clothing that through regular, careful care are now decades old.