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Under the theme of ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People,’ UN Environment’s sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) presents a comprehensive assessment of the state of the global environment, covering a range of topics, issues and potential solutions with contributions from over 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries.

The sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6), focusing on the theme “healthy planet, healthy people”, aims to help policymakers and all of society achieve the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals, internationally agreed environmental goals and the multilateral environmental agreements. It does so by assessing recent scientific information and data, analyzing current and past environmental policy, and identifying future options for achieving sustainable development by 2050.

GEO-6 builds on previous GEO reports and continues to provide an analysis of the state of the global environment, the global, regional and national policy response as well as the outlook for the foreseeable future. It differs from previous GEO reports in its emphasis on Sustainable Development Goals and in providing possible means of accelerating achievement of these goals. GEO6 is made up of four distinct but closely linked parts.

This publication focuses on the management of the nexus of energy, food and natural resources in sub-Saharan Africa, with a clear focus on gender roles and implications. It presents case studies that showcase a range of options available to improve biomass use, especially in locations and among populations who currently depend on conventional fuels like firewood or charcoal. Although many of these options are context specific, the provided examples demonstrate that generalizable options exist to improve energy access, reduce waste, protect our soils and empower women.

The Role of Trade Policy in Enabling the Global Diffusion of Electric Vehicles identifies and explains trade-related issues and knowledge gaps related to the scale-up and global deployment of electric vehicles. This includes the impact of various types of trade and investment-related barriers on electric vehicle supply chains and the role that international trade governance can play in facilitating, or indeed accelerating, a global transition towards electric vehicles.

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 Synthesis Report 2018 on Water and Sanitation reviews the global progress made towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It builds on the latest data available for the 11 SDG 6 global indicators and will inform the High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development during its in-depth review of SDG 6 in July 2018.