UN plastic pollution treaty talks floundering
The negotiations, which opened on Tuesday, have four working days left to strike a legally-binding instrument that would tackle the growing problem choking the environment.
But in a blunt mid-way assessment, the talks chair warned the 184 countries gathered at the United Nations in Geneva that progress so far was well off track.
Some countries called for areas where countries are far from agreement to ditched completely for the sake of expediency.
Others slammed the brinkmanship and said insistence on consensus could not be used as justification for sinking the more ambitious elements of the treaty.
"Progress made has not been sufficient," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told delegates in a frank summary as country delegations gathered in the assembly hall to take stock.
"We have arrived at a critical stage where a real push to achieve our common goal is needed.
"August 14 is not just a deadline for our work: it is a date by which we must deliver."
- 'Little progress' -
Countries have reconvened at the UN in Geneva after the failure of the supposedly fifth and final round of talks in Busan, South Korea in 2024.
After four days of talks, the draft text has ballooned from 22 to 35 pages -- with the number of brackets in the text going up near five-fold to almost 1,500 as countries insert conflicting ideas.
Vayas Valdivieso said states had had two and a half years to make such proposals.
"Some articles still have unresolved issues and show little progress towards reaching a common understanding," he lamented.
Kuwait spoke up for the so-called Like-Minded Group -- a nebulous cluster of mostly oil-producing nations which rejects production limits and wants to focus on treating waste.
Kuwait said the scope of the treaty had not been given "an equal and fair chance for discussion".
"Let us agree on what we can agree... consensus must be the basis of all our decisions."
But Uruguay insisted that doggedly clinging to consensus "cannot be used as a justification to not achieve our objectives".
The talks process is mandated to look at the full life cycle of plastic, from production to pollution.
Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature, told AFP that Kuwait's proposal was "another attempt to make it a waste management agreement", and to stifle talks reducing the amount of plastic and phasing out the most harmful elements.
Saudi Arabia, speaking for the Arab Group, said the responsible way ahead was to start considering what bits of the text "may not make it to the final outcome due to irreconcilable divergence"
"We cannot do everything everywhere all at once," Riyadh said, adding: "Let's not make the perfect the enemy of the good."
- 'Profits from poisoning' -
Panama's negotiator Juan Monterrey Gomez slammed those countries wanting to stop the treaty from encompassing the entire life cycle of plastic.
He said microplastics "are in our blood, in our lungs and in the first cry of a new-born child. Our bodies of living proof of a system that profits from poisoning us".
He said it was a lie that "recycling alone will save us... we cannot recycle our way out of this crisis... when the poison is inside us".
Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body.
More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items.
Plastic production is set to triple by 2060.
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The Advertiser
6 hours ago
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Delegates discussing the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach consensus, diplomats say, voicing disappointment and even rage that the 10-day talks produced no deal. Delegates had been seeking a breakthrough in the deadlocked United Nations' talks in Geneva, but states pushing for an ambitious treaty said that the latest text released overnight failed to meet their expectations. The chair of the negotiations Ecuador's Luis Vayas Valdivieso adjourned the session on Friday with a pledge to resume talks at an undetermined later date, drawing weak applause from exhausted delegates who had worked into the early hours. French ecology minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told the meeting's closing session that she was "enraged because despite genuine efforts by many, and real progress in discussions, no tangible results have been obtained". 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Anti-plastics campaigners voiced disappointment at the outcome but welcomed states' rejection of a weak deal that failed to place limits on plastics production. "No treaty is better than a bad treaty," said Ana Rocha, global plastics policy director from environmental group GAIA. Delegates discussing the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach consensus, diplomats say, voicing disappointment and even rage that the 10-day talks produced no deal. Delegates had been seeking a breakthrough in the deadlocked United Nations' talks in Geneva, but states pushing for an ambitious treaty said that the latest text released overnight failed to meet their expectations. The chair of the negotiations Ecuador's Luis Vayas Valdivieso adjourned the session on Friday with a pledge to resume talks at an undetermined later date, drawing weak applause from exhausted delegates who had worked into the early hours. French ecology minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told the meeting's closing session that she was "enraged because despite genuine efforts by many, and real progress in discussions, no tangible results have been obtained". In an apparent reference to oil-producing nations, Colombia's delegate Haendel Rodriguez said a deal had been "blocked by a small number of states who simply did not want an agreement". Diplomats and climate advocates had warned earlier this month that efforts by the European Union and small island states to cap virgin plastic production - fuelled by petroleum, coal and gas - faced opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the US under President Donald Trump. US delegate John Thompson from the State Department declined to comment as he left the talks. The path forward for the negotiations is uncertain. UN officials and some countries, including Britain, said negotiations should resume but others described a broken process. "It is very clear that the current process will not work," South Africa's delegate said. More than 1000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks,after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in South Korea in late 2024 ended without a deal. Negotiations had gone into overtime on Thursday as countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs. Many, including Danish environment minister Magnus Heunicke, who negotiated on behalf of the EU, were disappointed that the final push did not yield any results. "Of course we cannot hide that it is tragic and deeply disappointing to see some countries trying to block an agreement," he told reporters while vowing to keep working on the treaty necessary to tackle "one of the biggest pollution problems we have on earth". "We did not get where we want but people want a deal," she said. The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty. Anti-plastics campaigners voiced disappointment at the outcome but welcomed states' rejection of a weak deal that failed to place limits on plastics production. "No treaty is better than a bad treaty," said Ana Rocha, global plastics policy director from environmental group GAIA. Delegates discussing the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach consensus, diplomats say, voicing disappointment and even rage that the 10-day talks produced no deal. Delegates had been seeking a breakthrough in the deadlocked United Nations' talks in Geneva, but states pushing for an ambitious treaty said that the latest text released overnight failed to meet their expectations. The chair of the negotiations Ecuador's Luis Vayas Valdivieso adjourned the session on Friday with a pledge to resume talks at an undetermined later date, drawing weak applause from exhausted delegates who had worked into the early hours. French ecology minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told the meeting's closing session that she was "enraged because despite genuine efforts by many, and real progress in discussions, no tangible results have been obtained". In an apparent reference to oil-producing nations, Colombia's delegate Haendel Rodriguez said a deal had been "blocked by a small number of states who simply did not want an agreement". Diplomats and climate advocates had warned earlier this month that efforts by the European Union and small island states to cap virgin plastic production - fuelled by petroleum, coal and gas - faced opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the US under President Donald Trump. US delegate John Thompson from the State Department declined to comment as he left the talks. The path forward for the negotiations is uncertain. UN officials and some countries, including Britain, said negotiations should resume but others described a broken process. "It is very clear that the current process will not work," South Africa's delegate said. More than 1000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks,after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee in South Korea in late 2024 ended without a deal. Negotiations had gone into overtime on Thursday as countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs. Many, including Danish environment minister Magnus Heunicke, who negotiated on behalf of the EU, were disappointed that the final push did not yield any results. "Of course we cannot hide that it is tragic and deeply disappointing to see some countries trying to block an agreement," he told reporters while vowing to keep working on the treaty necessary to tackle "one of the biggest pollution problems we have on earth". "We did not get where we want but people want a deal," she said. The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty. Anti-plastics campaigners voiced disappointment at the outcome but welcomed states' rejection of a weak deal that failed to place limits on plastics production. "No treaty is better than a bad treaty," said Ana Rocha, global plastics policy director from environmental group GAIA. Delegates discussing the world's first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach consensus, diplomats say, voicing disappointment and even rage that the 10-day talks produced no deal. Delegates had been seeking a breakthrough in the deadlocked United Nations' talks in Geneva, but states pushing for an ambitious treaty said that the latest text released overnight failed to meet their expectations. The chair of the negotiations Ecuador's Luis Vayas Valdivieso adjourned the session on Friday with a pledge to resume talks at an undetermined later date, drawing weak applause from exhausted delegates who had worked into the early hours. French ecology minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher told the meeting's closing session that she was "enraged because despite genuine efforts by many, and real progress in discussions, no tangible results have been obtained". In an apparent reference to oil-producing nations, Colombia's delegate Haendel Rodriguez said a deal had been "blocked by a small number of states who simply did not want an agreement". 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Many, including Danish environment minister Magnus Heunicke, who negotiated on behalf of the EU, were disappointed that the final push did not yield any results. "Of course we cannot hide that it is tragic and deeply disappointing to see some countries trying to block an agreement," he told reporters while vowing to keep working on the treaty necessary to tackle "one of the biggest pollution problems we have on earth". "We did not get where we want but people want a deal," she said. The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty. Anti-plastics campaigners voiced disappointment at the outcome but welcomed states' rejection of a weak deal that failed to place limits on plastics production. "No treaty is better than a bad treaty," said Ana Rocha, global plastics policy director from environmental group GAIA.
ABC News
7 hours ago
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Landmark plastics treaty falls apart as nations fail to find consensus for pollutioneaty
Talks aimed at striking a landmark global treaty on plastic pollution have ended without agreement as countries failed to find consensus on how the world should tackle the ever-growing scourge. Negotiators from 185 nations worked beyond Thursday's deadline and through the night in an ultimately futile search for common ground between nations wanting bold action, such as curbing plastic production, and oil-producing states preferring to focus more narrowly on waste management. Several countries voiced bitter disappointment as the talks unravelled, but said they were prepared for future negotiations — despite six rounds of talks over three years now having failed to find agreement. "We have missed a historic opportunity but we have to keep going and act urgently. The planet and present and future generations need this treaty," said Cuba. Colombia added: "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 they were once again leaving empty-handed. "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," the Polynesian archipelago said. The High Ambition Coalition, which includes Australia, the European Union, Britain and many African and Latin American countries, wanted to see language on reducing plastic production and the phasing out of toxic chemicals used in plastics. A cluster of mostly oil-producing states calling themselves the Like-Minded Group — including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, Iran, and Malaysia — want the treaty to have a much narrower remit. "Our views were not reflected … without an agreed scope, this process cannot remain on the right track and risks sliding down a slippery slope," said Kuwait. Bahrain said it wanted a treaty that "does not penalise developing countries for exploiting their own resources". France's Ecological Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said: "I am disappointed, and I am angry," saying a handful of countries, "guided by short-term financial interests", had blocked the adoption of an ambitious treaty. The future of the negotiations was not immediately clear. Some countries called for a seventh round of talks in future, with the EU saying the latest draft was a "good basis for a resumed session", and South Africa insisting: "It cannot end here." The talks in Geneva — called after the collapse of the fifth and supposedly final round of talks in South Korea late last year — opened on August 5. With countries far apart, chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso produced a draft text on Wednesday based on the limited areas of convergence. But it was immediately shredded by all sides, plunging the talks into disarray, with the high ambition group finding it shorn of all impact, and the Like-Minded Group saying it crossed their red lines and lacked scope. Mr Vayas spent Thursday in a frantic round of negotiations with regional groups and produced a new version after midnight. Lead negotiators then held a meeting behind closed doors to thrash out whether there was enough in the text to keep talking. But shortly before sunrise, the game was up. More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. While 15 per cent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only 9 per cent is actually recycled. Nearly half, or 46 per cent, ends up in landfills, while 17 per cent is incinerated and 22 per cent is mismanaged and becomes litter. The plastic pollution problem is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. On current trends, annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics will nearly triple by 2060 to 1.2 billion tonnes, while waste will exceed 1 billion tonnes, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. AFP
News.com.au
9 hours ago
- News.com.au
World plastic pollution treaty talks collapse with no deal
Talks aimed at striking a landmark global treaty on plastic pollution fell apart Friday without agreement, as countries failed to find consensus on how the world should tackle the ever-growing scourge. Negotiators from 185 nations worked beyond Thursday's deadline and through the night in an ultimately futile search for common ground between nations wanting bold action such as curbing plastic production, and oil-producing states preferring to focus more narrowly on waste management. Several countries voiced bitter disappointment as the talks unravelled, but said they were prepared for future negotiations -- despite six rounds of talks over three years now having failed to find agreement. "We have missed a historic opportunity but we have to keep going and act urgently. The planet and present and future generations need this treaty," said Cuba. Colombia added: "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 they were once again leaving empty-handed. "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," the Polynesian archipelago said. - Pollution fight 'cannot end here' - The High Ambition Coalition, which includes the European Union, Britain and Canada, and many African and Latin American countries, wanted to see language on reducing plastic production and the phasing out of toxic chemicals used in plastics. A cluster of mostly oil-producing states calling themselves the Like-Minded Group -- including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, Iran, and Malaysia -- want the treaty to have a much narrower remit. "Our views were not reflected... without an agreed scope, this process cannot remain on the right track and risks sliding down a slippery slope," said Kuwait. Bahrain said it wanted a treaty that "does not penalise developing countries for exploiting their own resources". France's Ecological Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said: "I am disappointed, and I am angry," saying a handful of countries, "guided by short-term financial interests", had blocked the adoption of an ambitious treaty. "Oil-producing countries and their allies have chosen to look the other way." The future of the negotiations was not immediately clear. Some countries called for a seventh round of talks in future, with the EU saying the latest draft was a "good basis for a resumed session", and South Africa insisting: "It cannot end here." The talks in Geneva -- called after the collapse of the fifth and supposedly final round of talks in South Korea late last year -- opened on August 5. - Last-ditch scramble - With countries far apart, talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso produced a draft text Wednesday based on the limited areas of convergence. But it was immediately shredded by all sides, plunging the talks into disarray, with the high ambition group finding it shorn of all impact, and the Like-Minded Group saying it crossed their red lines and lacked scope. Vayas spend Thursday in a frantic round of negotiations with regional groups, and produced a new version after midnight. Lead negotiators then held a meeting behind closed doors to thrash out whether there was enough in the text to keep talking. But shortly before sunrise, the game was up. - Dumped, burned and discarded - More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled. Nearly half, or 46 percent, ends up in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter. The plastic pollution problem is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body. On current trends, annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics will nearly triple by 2060 to 1.2 billion tonnes, while waste will exceed one billion tonnes, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
