The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Commission have a long-standing partnership, covering a wide range of activities, programmes and projects in areas of common concern. Combating the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste is at the heart of this cooperation.

UNEP, including through the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) it administers, and the European Commission have worked together since UNEP’s creation in 1972. The relationship was further strengthened through the agreement in 2004 of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), renewed in 2014, to strengthen the environmental dimension of sustainable development and poverty eradication when implementing the Sustainable Development Goals. The MoU is complemented by an Annex which was revisited in 2020 to reflect international developments and processes, as well as the strategic focus of the European Green Deal. The new Annex outlines priority areas of dialogues and cooperation for the period 2021-2025.

The EU is one of UNEP's main supporters for voluntary financial contributions, mainly coming from the EU's research and innovation and development cooperation programmes and instruments. This has allowed UNEP to implement its work programme and make a difference in environmental governance at global and regional levels.

The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) is the world’s highest decision-making body on the environment. It is the governing body of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It was created in 2013 and meets every two years in Nairobi, Kenya.

The EU, alongside its Member States, participates in the UNEA meetings (in line with UNGA Resolution A/65/276). The EU is represented through the EU Delegation in Nairobi, Kenya and is also a member of the Committee of Permanent Representatives at UNEP.

UNEA adopts resolutions and ministerial declarations on a large range of global environmental issues. Through these resolutions, UNEA guides the multilateral system as regards the overall coordination across the United Nations in the field of the environment, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement, cooperating with Multilateral Environmental Agreements and supporting the environmental rule of law. UNEA can also launch new global agreements, such as the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, for which UNEA-5 established an inter-governmental negotiating committee and requested it to conclude its work by 2024.

In March 2022, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of UNEP,

UNEA convened a Special Session (UNEP@50). On this occasion UNEP launched a ground-breaking report “Making Peace with Nature: A scientific blueprint to tackle the climate, biodiversity and pollution emergencies”. The report exposed the current unsustainable development model as the root cause of the rapid environmental degradation and declining capacity of Earth’s system to sustain human well-being. It called for a deep transformation of the socio-economic systems to secure a sustainable future.