At UN ocean summit, 95 countries back ‘wake-up call’ to cap plastic production

Marine pollution, mainly made up of plastic bottles and polystyrene, in Hinnavaru Harbour, Maldives, Indian Ocean. Getty Images - Rosemary Calvert

Nice – Ministers from 95 countries – including France – on Tuesday backed calls for a global treaty to restrict plastic production, on the sidelines of the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in Nice.

Talks on the treaty held in Busan, South Korea, in late 2024 collapsed, with countries unable to agree on how to stop millions of tonnes of plastic waste from entering the environment each year.