A new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) lays out the gravity of Earth’s triple environmental emergencies – climate, biodiversity loss, and pollution – through a synthesis of findings from major global assessments.

Economic growth has brought uneven gains in prosperity to a fast-growing global population, leaving 1.3 billion people poor, while tripling the extraction of natural resources to damaging levels and creating a planetary emergency.

Despite a temporary decline in emissions due to the pandemic, Earth is heading for at least 3°C of global warming this century; more than 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species are at substantially increased risk of extinction, and diseases caused by pollution are currently killing some 9 million people prematurely every year.

Environmental degradation is impeding progress towards ending poverty and hunger, reducing inequalities and promoting sustainable economic growth, work for all and peaceful and inclusive societies.