On 2 March 2022 the United Nations Environment Assembly, in its resolution 5/8, decided that a science-policy panel should be established to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and prevent pollution. The Environment Assembly also decided to convene, subject to the availability of resources, an ad hoc open-ended working group that would begin its work in 2022, with the ambition of completing it by the end of 2024. Accordingly, the first part of the first session of the ad hoc open-ended working group on a science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution was held on Thursday, 6 October 2022 at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. The meeting was held in a hybrid format, with some participants attending online.