Binding global targets to cut plastic production must be at the centre of any continuing negotiations to secure the world’s first treaty to tackle plastic waste, a group of 85 countries has said.
Talks in Busan, South Korea, attempting to secure agreement between more than 200 countries on the details of a plastic pollution treaty ended in failure over the weekend.
Graham Forbes, the lead delegate for Greenpeace at the talks, said on Monday: “We stand at a historic crossroads. The opportunity to secure an impactful plastics treaty that protects our health, biodiversity and climate remains within reach.”
The week-long talks, known as INC-5, which were supposed to be the last before the first treaty to cut plastic pollution was signed, ended without agreement in the early hours of Monday in a deadlock over the inclusion of cuts to plastic production between so-called ambition countries and fossil fuel states, which object to any reductions in production.
More than 100 countries supported a draft text that included legally binding global reductions in plastic production and phasing out certain chemicals and single-use plastic products.
But the resistance of countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia to production reductions, according to statements in their submissions to the treaty talks, led negotiators to concede defeat. They acknowledged they had failed to bridge serious divisions over the aims of the treaty.
Abdulrahman al-Gwaiz, the Saudi Arabian delegate, indicated that production cuts remained a red line for many countries. “If you address plastic pollution, there should be no problem with producing plastics, because the problem is the pollution, not the plastics themselves,” he said.
In response to the failure of the talks, countries pushing for production cuts continued to call for legally binding reductions. Eighty-five countries and political blocs including the UK, the EU, Spain, Germany, Mexico and Greece signed a declaration committing to stand up for ambition in the treaty.
Juliet Kabera, the director general of Rwanda’s environment management authority, said in a statement on behalf of the high-ambition countries: “We voice our strong concerns about ongoing calls by a small group of countries to remove binding provisions from the text that are indispensable for the treaty to be effective.”
The ambition countries said the treaty must contain binding provisions for a global target to reduce the production of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels.
The US, which had spoken of support for voluntary reductions in production, was accused of failing to use its influence to push for legally binding measures.
Rachel Radvany, a campaigner for the environmental law group CIEL, said: “Despite maintaining in the lead-up to and during the INC that production and chemicals were important measures for the treaty, they refused to … answer the call to join more than 100 countries calling for legally binding measures.”
Hugo Schally, the director general for the environment at the European Commission, said: “The EU is disappointed by the outcome of INC-5; we didn’t get what we came here for, a binding treaty with decisive action against plastic pollution … but we feel encouraged and empowered by a growing number of countries sharing the same ambitions.”
Another meeting is planned but the UN environment chief, Inger Andersen, acknowledged that deep differences remained and “some significant conversations” were needed first. “I do believe that there’s no point in meeting unless we can see a pathway from Busan to the treaty text being gavelled,” she said.
Andersen said it was clear that “there’s a group of countries that give voice to an economic sector” but she said finding a way forward was possible. “That’s how negotiations work. Countries have different interests, they present them and the conversations then have to take place … seeking to find that common ground.”
No date or location has been set for resumed talks. Saudi Arabia and other countries are trying to ensure that they start no sooner than mid-2025.
Record numbers of plastic industry lobbyists attended the talks in Busan, with 220 fossil fuel and chemical industry representatives present. Taken as a group, they were the biggest delegation at the talks, with more plastic industry lobbyists than representatives from the EU and each of its member states (191) or the host country, South Korea (140), according to a CIEL analysis.
Sixteen lobbyists from the plastics industry attended the talks as part of country delegations. China, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Finland, Iran, Kazakhstan and Malaysia had industry representatives in their delegations, the analysis showed.
