IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network)

IPEN is a global network forging a healthier world where people and the environment are no longer harmed by the production, use, and disposal of toxic chemicals.

Over 600 public interest NGOs in more than 120 countries, largely low- and middle-income nations, comprise IPEN and work to strengthen global and national chemicals and waste policies, contribute to ground-breaking research, and build a global movement for a toxics-free future.

IPEN plays a critical role in global chemicals policy arenas. The network helped shape the first treaty to ban the world’s most dangerous chemicals – the Stockholm Convention – and remains influential in the implementation of this treaty as well as other treaties governing chemicals and waste, the Rotterdam and Basel Conventions, and the Minamata Mercury Treaty. IPEN identifies and advocates for adding new chemicals for elimination, brings new scientific information about harmful chemicals to treaty discussions, and builds the capacity of NGOs and governments to press for treaty provisions relevant to their national situations.