Issues selected by EMG since its first meeting in January 2001, have included the harmonization of biodiversity-related reporting (with UNEP as the lead agency), the development of a system-wide approach to environmental education and training (with UNESCO as the lead agency), waste management (with UNEP and UNIDO as lead agencies) and chemicals (with UNEP as the lead agency). EMG has also addressed issues such as international environmental governance, and its relationship to the Ecosystem Conservation Group (ECG) [Reports of EMG 1 - 2 - 3

Enhanced coordination across the United Nations system - specifically the role of the EMG was discussed within the Open-ended Intergovernmental Group of Ministers or Their Representatives (IGM) (established pursuant to UNEP Governing Council decision 21/21) which undertook a comprehensive policy-oriented assessment of existing institutional weaknesses as well as future needs and options for strengthened international environmental governance. As reflected in the report of the IGM, adopted by the Governing Council at its seventh special session in February 2002, the EMG was discussed in terms of its role as an instrument to enhance policy coordination across the environmental activities of the UN system, its potential for bringing the environment into the mainstream of relevant activities of the UN system, and its relationship with intergovernmental processes (the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, the Commission on Sustainable Development, and other forums in the United Nations system).

The UNEP secretariat for EMG is located in Geneva.