Countries race for late breakthrough in deadlocked plastic pollution talks
By Olivia Le Poidevin and Emma Farge
Talks to create the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution hung in the balance late on Thursday as countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs on a final day of negotiations in Geneva.
Late Thursday night, countries awaited a new text which could be the basis for further negotiations after delegations who want an ambitious plastics treaty threw out the one proposed on Wednesday.
States pushing for a comprehensive treaty, including Panama, Kenya, Britain and the European Union, shared frustration that key articles on the full life cycle of plastic pollution from the production of polymers to the disposal of waste, as well as the harm to health, had been removed entirely from the text.
Oil-producing nations are against curbs on the production of virgin plastics derived from petroleum, coal, and gas, while others want it to be limited and to have stricter controls over plastic products and hazardous chemicals.
"It's proving unlikely all countries will be able to bridge their differences," said Zaynab Sadan of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), adding that agreement was as far away as it had ever been in nearly three years of talks.
"A treaty that covers the full life cycle of plastics and can evolve with science is a vital step. A weak, static agreement serves no one," EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall said in a statement.
"The next few hours will show whether we can rise to the moment," she added.
Panama described Wednesday's draft text as "repulsive" and called for a complete rewrite.
Saudi Arabia, which is resisting major curbs, said nothing could be agreed until the treaty's scope is clearly defined.
More than 1,000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in South Korea late last year ended without a deal.
On Thursday, advocacy groups held a banner and chanted urging against a "weak treaty" as they waited for delegates to arrive in the U.N. plenary hall in Geneva for further discussions.
The OECD warns that without intervention, plastic production will triple by 2060, further choking oceans, harming health, and exacerbating climate change.
"It will be very important to spend every single hour of the last day of negotiation finding a good text that can deliver on the promise to end plastic pollution," said Giulia Carlini, a Senior Attorney for the Environmental Health Program of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).
COMPROMISE
Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, co-chair of the High Ambition Countries group, told Reuters that all parties need to compromise.
"We are willing to discuss all articles, three, six, for example, to be able to create the package that can be good enough for everyone," he said, pointing to potential openness to re-discussing restrictions on chemicals and production.
"We're optimistic ... We think this can be really good for our industry, society, and for the environment," Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers, which is part of the American Chemistry Council, told Reuters.
The Council, which supports a deal without limits on plastic production, warned that the U.S. might not ratify a treaty containing provisions to ban chemicals or restrict plastic production.
However, Colombian lawmaker Juan Carlos Lozada urged that no deal would be better than a watered-down deal.
Some 300 businesses, including Unilever, have pressed for an ambitious treaty that harmonizes rules globally.
"If we don't get that degree of harmonization, we risk further fragmentation ... and higher costs," Ed Shepherd, senior global sustainability manager at Unilever, told Reuters.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
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