new and more powerful "United Nations Environment Organization", to be modeled on the World Health Organization. The 46 countries included the European Union nations, but notably did not include the United States, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China, the top four emitters of greenhouse gases. In December 2012, following the Rio+20 Summit, a decision by the General Assembly of the United Nations to "strengthen and upgrade" the UNEP and establish universal membership of its governing body was confirmed. Funding The European Investment Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme created the Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP) in 2015 to assist a United Nations project dubbed Sustainable Energy for All. Renewable Energy Performance Platform was established with $67 million from the United Kingdom's International Climate Finance initiative, administered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, in 2015, and $128 million in 2018. REPP was established with a five-year goal of improving energy access for at least two million people in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has so far invested around $45 million to renewable energy projects in 13 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Solar power and hydropower are among the energy methods used in the projects. Funding complications In September 2018, a series of allegations were made against the Executive Director of the UNEP, Eric Solheim, at that time, including excessive number of days spent outside the headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. As a result, Eric Solheim resigned. Several donor countries withdrew their donation in the aftermath of the allegation, including the Dutch government who announced it would withhold $8 million in funding to UNEP until nepotism issues were resolved. Sweden and Denmark stopped funding as well. A spokesman for the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs said the freezing of funds was probably unprecedented. See also 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership Citizen Science, cleanup projects that people can take part in. Global Climate Observing System Global warming International Renewable Energy Agency Melbourne Principles Miss Earth Foundation Northwest Pacific Action Plan Timeline of environmental events UNEP GEO Data Portal UNEP/GRID-Arendal United Nations Billion Tree Campaign United Nations Centre for Urgent Environmental Assistance United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative United Nations REDD Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre World Refrigeration Day Sources References Further reading Borowy, Iris. "Before UNEP: who was in charge of the global environment? The struggle for institutional responsibility 1968–72." Journal of Global History 14.1 (2019): 87–106. United Nations Environment Programme. "Natural Allies: UNEP and