On August 5, 2025, over 1,400 persons representing 183 countries arrived in Geneva, Switzerland to chalk out a consensus for a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. The hope was that by August 14, an effective inter-governmental treaty would be signed that can significantly reduce the amount of plastics ending up in oceans and rivers.
Ten days of closed-door informal negotiations and five plenary sessions of formal, open debates proved as inconclusive as the previous five sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) talks that first started in 2022. There was nothing concrete to show; no consensus on even the scope of the treaty, its ambitions or even how discussions should proceed. What was on view was the same entrenched divisions, disappointments and disagreements.
