3 days ago
Plastic pollution treaty talks fail to reach agreement
Negotiators working on a treaty to address the global plastic pollution crisis ended talks on Friday, without reaching an agreement.
Delegates, who worked through the night in an extended session at the United Nations office in Geneva, say they failed to find an "acceptable outcome".
They remain deadlocked over whether the treaty should reduce the exponential growth of plastic production and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics.
Oil and gas-producing nations and the plastics industry oppose production limits, instead calling for a treaty focused on better waste management and reuse.
"We are sorry to see that we, despite your efforts to bring us closer, will not be able to finalise negotiations on an acceptable outcome. We now have to explore our options going forward," said Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Minister of Climate and the Environment of Norway.
This round of negotiations was supposed to be the final round, and to produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans.
But just like at the last meeting in South Korea last year, they're leaving without a treaty.
Two drafts were proposed by the chair of the negotiation committee, but the representatives from 184 countries did not agree to use either one as the basis for the negotiations.
No further action is being proposed at this stage on the latest draft, and next steps have not been decided yet, as delegates continue to meet on Friday. European Commissioner Jessika Roswall said the European Union and its member states had higher expectations for this meeting, and while the draft falls short of their demands, it provides a good basis for further negotiating sessions.
"The Earth is not ours only," she said. We are stewards for those who come after us. Let us fulfill that duty."
One of the drafts released on Friday did not include a limit on plastic production, but recognised current levels of production and consumption are "unsustainable".
The objective of the treaty was revamped to state that the accord would be based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics.
Each country came to Geneva with a lot of 'red lines,' said Magnus Heunicke, the Danish environment minister.
'To be very clear, a compromise means that we have to bend our red lines,' he said.
In 2025, the world is expected to consume more than 500 million tonnes of plastic, according to the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP).
It says the equivalent of 2,000 rubbish trucks of plastic are being dumped into the world's oceans, rivers and lakes every single day.
In addition, 13 million tonnes of plastic accumulate in the soil annually
Unlike natural materials, plastic does not decay; it merely continues to break down into smaller and smaller pieces known as microplastics.
Once in the environment, microplastics persist indefinitely and are virtually impossible to remove.
Despite a growing awareness of the problem, plastic pollution has continued to increase, with the World Wildlife Fund warning that global plastic pollution could triple by 2040 without immediate action.
