Plastic pollution talks fail as negotiators in Geneva reject draft treaties

The Guardian

15 hours ago

Global talks to reach agreement on a treaty aimed at ending the growing scourge of plastic pollution have collapsed, with no deal agreed and no clear path forward.
Countries worked beyond Thursday's deadline into the night and Friday morning, but remained deadlocked on the issue that has dogged talks since they were launched, amid fervent optimism, in 2022: whether to reduce exponential growth of plastic production and place global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics.
Several countries expressed bitter disappointment, sadness and anger that the Geneva talks had, after the sixth and final round of negotiations, failed to reach a deal. Despite the deadlock, they said they would carry on with a resumed session in the future.
Some NGOs called the failed talks a 'blow to multilateralism', and there was reflection among some delegates on how best to move forward: for instance, without the participation of petrostates that had obstructed the talks.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, France's minister for ecological transition, said she was 'disappointed' and 'angry' that a handful of countries 'guided by short-term financial interests' had bloked the adoption of an ambitious treaty.
France, the EU and more than 100 countries, from every continent, 'did everything possible' to obtain an agreement to reduce plastic production, to ban the most dangerous products and to protect human health, she said.
Emma Hardy, the UK's head of delegation and marine minister, said: 'I'm hugely disappointed that an agreement wasn't reached, but am extremely proud of the way the UK worked tirelessly until the end to seek an ambitious and effective treaty.'
Colombia's delegate, Sebastián Rodríguez, said: 'The negotiations were consistently blocked by a small number of states who simply don't want an agreement.'
Tuvalu, speaking for 14 Pacific small island developing states, said: 'For our islands this means that without global cooperation and state action, millions of tonnes of plastic waste will continue to be dumped in our oceans, affecting our ecosystem, food security, livelihood and culture.'
China's delegation said the fight against plastic pollution was a long marathon and the temporary setback represented a new starting point to forge consensus. It urged countries to work together to offer future generations a planet without plastic pollution.
Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee, wrote and presented two drafts of treaty text based on the views expressed by the countries, but representatives from 184 countries rejected both as a basis for their negotiations.
Saudi Arabia said both drafts lacked balance, and Saudi and Kuwaiti negotiators suggested the latest proposal, presented in the early hours of Friday, took other states' views more into account. It addressed plastic production, which they considered to be outside the scope of the treaty.
The Friday draft did not include a limit on plastic production but recognised that current production and consumption levels were 'unsustainable' and global action was needed.
There was little clarity on the way forward as delegates left the UN meeting on Friday morning. But there was acknowledgment that lessons needed to be learned and a new approach was needed.
Jessika Roswall, the European commissioner for environment, said she saw the outcome of the talks as a good basis for a resumed session, but they must 'be honest and learn from the process that has brought us here today'.
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Dennis Clare, of Micronesia, said: 'What might have collapsed is not so much the talks but the logic of continuing or concluding them in a forum with dedicated obstructionists.'
While it was always difficult to negotiate shared goals in a multilateral forum with almost 200 countries, it was 'especially difficult if there is no meeting of the minds on what the goals are,' he said.
Clare, who negotiated for Micronesia in the Montreal treaty to control ozone-depleting chemicals, a process that took eight years, said he had 'deja vu' from petrostates blocking principles back then.
'We need to consider how to approach this and whether to consider without [petrostates'] participation,' he said. 'Many ambitious countries also have great hope in China, a country that not only has a much more diverse economy than some of its petrostate allies, but also has a demonstrated interest in showing leadership to solve global problems. This is the beginning of the beginning of the world's attempt to address plastic pollution.'
Christina Dixon, of the Environmental Investigation Agency, said the failure to reach a deal was a 'blow to multilateralism'. If talks resume they needed a 'new dynamic, a new chair and empowerment for delegates to utilise the right to vote … Its going to be really difficult to keep doing the same thing again and expect a different result – that's the definition of insanity.'
Melissa Sky, a senior lawyer at the Center for International Environmental Law, said:'If countries hope to ever achieve a treaty that meaningfully addresses plastics pollution, they will either need to vote at the INC [Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee] or take the negotiation elsewhere'
Valdivieso said the session had merely been adjourned rather than ended. Countries and the secretariat 'will be working to try to find a date and also a place' for resuming the talks, he told Agence France-Presse.