First Plenary Session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution (ISP-CWP-1)
Speech from Katrin Schneeberger, Director of the Federal Office for the Environment, Geneva, 2. February 2026
Dear Executive Director of UNEP,
Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
It is a great honor for me to address you today and to warmly welcome you to Geneva for the first plenary session of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Chemicals, Waste and Pollution.
This is truly a historic moment and a remarkable achievement!
In 2022, at UNEA-5, the international community adopted the resolution to launch negotiations for a science-policy panel on chemicals, waste and pollution. Since then, countries have worked together to turn that mandate into reality.
The international community formally established the Panel after only four negotiating sessions and within three years – this is efficient multilateralism.
The IPCC and IPBES have demonstrated that science–policy panels can work and can deliver real impact. At the same time, we must be clear-eyed about the challenges we face. Multilateralism is under pressure, and resources are scarce.
If we want to continue the success story of our new Panel, I see two points as particularly critical.
First, we must strengthen collaboration. To ensure access to the best available science, we need the strong engagement of universities and scientific networks. When these institutions recognize the value of the Panel’s outputs, they are willing to contribute expertise and provide in-kind resources. This collaboration ensures that the Panel’s work remains scientifically robust.
Collaboration also means working closely with relevant international organizations. While fully respecting different mandates, cooperation can create synergies, improve efficiency, reduce costs and increase the overall impact of the Panel’s work.
Second, we must continue to ensure inclusivity. This means enabling scientists from all regions of the world to contribute to the Panel’s work and ensuring the participation of all Member States in the Panel’s sessions.
To fulfil its ambitious mandate, the Panel will require a Secretariat that is both financially well-resourced and well-connected. A Secretariat that operates at the crossroads of global efforts on chemicals and waste governance and science-policy cooperation.
Geneva offers exactly these conditions. This is why Switzerland is offering to host the Secretariat here in Geneva, at the heart of the international cluster of instruments and organizations advancing chemicals and waste governance.
The cluster here includes the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, the Minamata Convention, the Global Framework on Chemicals, UNEP’s Chemicals and Health Branch, and many other key institutions.
Geneva is also home to permanent representations from 185 UN Member States, providing an exceptional diplomatic environment that supports inclusivity, participation and dialogue.
A year and a half ago, I stood before you here in Geneva to open the third session of the open-ended working group. Today, we meet again, this time to launch the first plenary session of an established Panel.
At this point, I would like to express my gratitude to the Secretariat and to UNEP for their engagement throughout this process.
The continuity of our work over the past four years reflects our shared determination, and with its offer to host the ISP Secretariat, Switzerland remains firmly committed to accompanying this process and to support the work of the Panel, including on capacity building, to ensure universal participation.
I wish you very productive deliberations and every success in the work ahead.
Thank you very much.