Draft:United Nations Environment Management Group

• Comment: Relies almost entirely on non-independent sources Sulfurboy (talk) 15:44, 18 July 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: Every source here is primary and non-independent. All articles need at least some independent and secondary/tertiary sources to show notability, see panel above. ChrysGalley (talk) 09:43, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

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United Nations Environment Management Group

Environment Management Group
Logo of the United Nations Environment Management Group
Abbreviation	UN EMG
Established	1999
Headquarters	Nairobi, Kenya
Chair	Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP
Parent organization	United Nations system
Website	unemg.org

The United Nations Environment Management Group (UN EMG or simply EMG) is a coordination body of the United Nations for system-wide policy development on environmental and sustainability issues across the UN system. It was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999 pursuant to and became operational in 2001 as a platform for policy coordination within the UN on environment and human settlements. It is currently composed of 53 UN organizations, including UN specialized agencies, programmes, funds, and the secretariats of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).

Noteworthy outputs of the EMG are a 2007 strategy that commits the UN to climate neutrality], a 2019 strategy that commits the UN to reducing absolute emissions by 45%, a 2021 corporate sustainability strategy for the UN, and a common approach for environmental and social safeguards in UN programmes.

While in principle a platform for coordination amongst UN entities, the EMG is widely perceived as dominated by United Nations Environment Programme, both by design and in day-to-day operations.

History

Establishment and original mandate

The EMG grew out of the Secretary-General's 1999 report on environment and human settlements. In 53/242 of July 1999, the General Assembly supported the proposal to create an environmental management group for the purpose of enhancing inter-agency coordination in the field of "environment and human settlements", and asked the Secretary-General to develop its mandate, terms of reference, membership criteria and working methods in consultation with Member States and the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC). The terms of reference were worked out through the ACC and its Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development and endorsed in 2000; the EMG began work the following year.

The EMG did not appear in a vacuum. Scholars have placed the EMG in a line of successive arrangements, its immediate predecessor being the Environment Coordination Board, which sat under the auspices of the ACC.

Evolution

Under its original mandate, the EMG was to deliver a coordinated and flexible UN system response to newly emerging environmental and human settlements issues through an "issue management" approach, to promote inter-linkages between different approaches, and to add value to existing inter-agency cooperation rather than duplicate it. However, the EMG has never really been able to lead on environmental policy making in the UN system. Its place in the wider architecture has repeatedly surfaced in reform debates. During the system-wide coherence negotiations that followed the 2005 World Summit, proposals circulated for enhancing the Secretary-General's leadership over the EMG or for folding it under the Unite Nations Chief Executives Board, alongside broader ideas for rationalizing MEA secretariats. These proved contentious, and were abandoned. The question resurfaced in 2025 under the UN80 reform process, but again did not lead to changes in the setup of the EMG - other than relocating the EMG Secretariat from Geneva to Nairobi.

Governance

The EMG is currently composed of 53 specialized agencies, programmes and organs of the UN system, including MEA secretariats and Bretton Woods institutions. Two non-UN organizations have observer status.

The EMG's main decision‑making body is the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM), composed of heads or senior officials of member UN entities and chaired by the UNEP Executive Director. The SOM convenes at least once a year to review the annual report, identify emerging issues to be addressed, and adopt the annual workplan.

Each member agency appoints a focal point at technical level to coordinate EMG‑related activities within the member organization. Focal points are considered the Technical Segment of the SOM and meet at least twice per year. Non‑UN participants (e.g. civil society, international NGOs, scientific bodies and private sector representatives) can participate as observers.

The EMG Secretariat is hosted and administered by UNEP. The Secretariat serves the entire EMG network, providing organizational, substantive and reporting support to the SOM, the Technical Segment, and the sub-working groups. The Secretary of the EMG is the Head of UNEP's New York Office, who oversees the Secretariat's administrative arrangements and liaison with other New York‑based UN coordination mechanisms.

The EMG directly reports on its work to the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) and indirectly, through UNEP, to the UN General Assembly. UNEP Governing Council decision SS.VII/1 (2002) recognized the EMG as the instrument needed at inter-agency level to enhance policy coordination across UN environmental activities and requested annual reporting to the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, now UNEA. General Assembly resolution 58/209 likewise requested a report on the Group's work. The EMG also works alongside the CEB, the UN Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG), the High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP), the High-Level Committee on Management (HLCM) and thematic coalitions such as UN-Water, UN-Energy and UN-Oceans.

Criticism

Scholars and external evaluators have noted that the EMG is heavily focuses on coordination among UN entities at headquarters level, with limited impact at country or field level.

Others have flagged the possibility of conflicts of interest arising from UNEP simultaneously hosting the EMG Secretariat, chairing the SOM, funding the Secretariat's operations, and being a member of the network. One scholar has described the EMG as "UNEP-heavy".

Outputs

Work attributed to the EMG since 2001 includes:

• Strategy for a climate-neutral UN, initiated the UN's efforts to measure, reduce, and offset its greenhouse gas emissions.
• UN E‑waste Coalition, brought together all UN agencies with mandates on electronics, waste, health and labour to address the global e‑waste challenge.
• Model Approach to Environmental and Social Standards in UN Programming, has influenced the design of safeguards systems within UN agencies and some international NGOs.
• 2019 Strategy for Environmental Sustainability in the Area of Management, committed the UN to a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
• Strategy for Sustainability Management in the UN System 2020–2030, is the United Nations' corporate sustainability strategy.
• Common Approach Towards a Pollution‑Free Planet, aligned UN entities' messaging, policies and programmes on pollution.
• Nexus Dialogues, provide a space for multi‑agency discussions on the linkages between environmental issues and other agendas (e.g. biodiversity and food systems, climate and security, environment and humanitarian action).

See also

• United Nations Environment Programme