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Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Plastics treaty talks in deadlock as negotiations enter second week, India opposes product phase-out
Deadlocks and divisions over scope and ambition of the draft text of first-ever Plastics Treaty marred negotiations, as they moved into the second and final week. India on Saturday aligned itself with oil producing nations such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and opposed separate provisions on supply or measures to regulate primary polymers. Further, it also opposed inclusion of any phase-out lists for plastic products. Around 190 countries have assembled in Geneva for what is seen as a make-or-break round of negotiations to achieve a global treaty to end plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Speaking for India, Vir Vikram Yadav, Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board said to the chair of the negotiations that the treaty's focus should be on addressing plastic pollution only, and it should not overlap with existing multilateral environmental agreements and mandate bodies like WTO and WHO. 'Separate article on supply or any measure to regulate the production of primary plastic polymers has larger implications in respect of the right to development of member states. Such approaches should be avoided. Similarly, inclusion of any global list with phase out dates under the Article on plastic products should be avoided,' Yadav said, reading out India's statement at the plenary. The draft text of the treaty currently runs into 35 pages and contains nearly 1,500 brackets denoting the disagreements over the text and import of the language. This text is put together with the help of 'contact groups' which see representatives of countries discuss Articles of the treaty in detail. Despite the vast gulf between country positions, Inder Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said that the treaty 'was within grasp', and even as the negotiations were not easy, they could deliver. In Busan too, India had backed production cuts, however, this time it has explicitly backed Arab countries, and taken a position on omitting any lists of products that should be phased out. This is significant as India has already passed domestic regulation to ban single-use plastic products such as balloon sticks, cutlery, straws, and certain packaging, which is of high littering potential. Under Annex Y of the plastics treaty's draft text, single use straws, cutlery, carry bags, rinse-off cosmetics, personal care products containing microbeads are some of the items included for phase-out. Yadav added that the treaty should have provisions on technical and financial assistance, including technology transfer, to developing countries to prevent and reduce plastic pollution. '…a stand-alone dedicated multilateral fund providing financial resources to developing countries for meeting costs for their compliance obligations is required,' Yadav said. The Like-Minded countries India has aligned with have consistently opposed steps to cut plastic production, use of chemicals of concern in production in the treaty. Meanwhile, the European Union, Mexico, many African countries, Australia have pushed for 'high ambition', such as including production cuts and addressing the entire life-cycle of plastic production rather than focussing on plastic waste management. Kuwait's representative said during the stocktake that countries must agree on what can be agreed upon and consensus must be the foundation of the treaty. 'There will be no successful treaty without half of the world's population…any attempt to move forward without consensus risks producing an instrument which is neither legitimate nor implementable.' The formal deadline to achieve a global treaty, akin to the Paris climate treaty, ended in failure in Busan, Korea, last December. However, talks have carried on after it was decided to resume where things stalled in Busan. EoM An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More
New Indian Express
4 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
India backs Like-Minded Group; opposes global phase-out list in plastics treaty talks
GENEVA: For the first time in the global plastics treaty negotiations, India has openly opposed the inclusion of any global list with phase-out dates under the article on plastic products — a move that puts it squarely alongside Kuwait and the Like-Minded Group (LMG) of countries that includes Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran. Speaking at the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) in Geneva, Vir Vikram Yadav, Chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board and member of India's delegation, warned that such provisions would have 'larger implications in respect of the right to development of Member States' and should be avoided. 'The instrument needs to have a clearly defined scope… Separate article on supply or any measures to regulate the production of primary plastic polymers has larger implications… Similarly, inclusion of any global list with phase-out dates under the article on plastic products should be avoided,' Yadav told the stocktake plenary. India also reiterated that all decisions should be taken by consensus and that the treaty's scope should focus strictly on 'addressing plastic pollution only' as mandated by the 5/14 resolution, without overlapping with other multilateral bodies such as the WTO or WHO. The stance aligns with Kuwait's call, on behalf of the Arab Group, for a 'party-driven process' and for avoiding irreconcilable issues, as well as with Iran's rejection of stand-alone texts on scope, supply, and exemptions. This bloc has resisted broadening the treaty's mandate to include production caps or health provisions and has pushed for more procedural control by member states.
