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International Organizations
Regions
EPA collaborates with a wide variety of multilateral organizations and through the United Nations and other multi-lateral programs to protect human health and the environment. As EPA seeks to manage emerging environmental threats and create successful partnerships to tackle old problems in new ways, these organizations and programs provide a forum for encouraging collective actions for common solutions. Working through multilateral organizations and programs allows EPA to leverage its resources and to respond quickly to emerging threats by offering a structured framework through which EPA can reach critical stakeholders. Examples of our multi-lateral collaborations include:
Partnership for Cleaner Fuels and Vehicles
The Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles 
, launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002, EPA is working to eliminate lead in gasoline and reduce sulfur in fuels, while introducing cleaner vehicle technologies. World-wide, there are 17 countries left that still use leaded gasoline, affecting over 300 million people. The Partnership is working towards global elimination of lead by 2011. The agreed global target for sulfur in fuels is 50 ppm. To date 14 developing/ transition countries are already at 50 ppm or less. The Partnership continues moving forward on the lead, sulfur and vehicle issues.
Global Partnership for Mercury
The UNEP Global Mercury Partnership provides a focused, global means for reducing mercury use and emissions, thus improving human health and environmental conditions in the near-term both locally and globally. EPA has led international action in a number of partnership areas, providing world class technical assistance and substantial in-kind and direct assistance to our partners.
World Conservation Union
Invasive species are a cause of biodiversity loss. They also cause direct economic losses and management costs to commercial and recreational interests. EPA is working with the World Conservation Union to better identify and develop techniques that reduce or eliminate the risks of new introductions of invasive species into U.S. waters.
Asia-Pacific Partnership
EPA is working with Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and the private sector through the Asia Pacific Partnership, launched in January 2006, to expand investment and trade in cleaner energy technologies, goods, and services in key market sectors. As part of this initiative, governments agreed to a that established eight public-private task forces: (1) cleaner use of fossil energy; (2) renewable energy and distributed generation; (3) power generation and transmission; (4) steel; (5) aluminum; (6) cement; (7) coal mining; and (8) buildings and appliances.
EPA has a leadership role for the U.S. in four task forces: clean fossil energy; cement; aluminum; and buildings & appliances. The agency is also actively involved in the work of several other task forces as well as in other cross-cutting areas under development, such as transportation. The six partner countries represent about half of the world's economy, population and energy use, and they produce about 65% of the world's coal, 48% of the world's steel, 35% of the world's aluminum, and 61% of the world's cement.
Working with international organizations provides EPA a forum for influencing the world community to take collective actions that contribute to common solutions. EPA leverages its resources through partnership and collaboration to efficiently achieve our environmental goals.
