Latest news with #plastic pollution
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
A Ban on Soy Sauce Fish? It's Not Such a Bad Idea
At different ends of the planet, the past week has seen separate examples of how we're failing to get to grips with our plastics problem. In Geneva, attempts to hammer out a United Nations deal to end plastic pollution fell apart for the second time in nine months, after the US joined a bloc dominated by oil exporters in refusing to countenance a cap on production or regulation of potentially toxic additives. That's a sign of how global environmental negotiations are increasingly getting bogged down in a procedural morass.
Japan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
'Bad actors' blamed as plastic pollution treaty talks end again without deal
Talks aimed at striking a landmark global treaty on plastic pollution fell apart Friday 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. A large bloc wants bold action such as curbing plastic production, while a smaller clutch of oil-producing states want to focus more narrowly on waste management. The stalemate was a resounding failure for the environment and for international diplomacy at a time when its frailties are in the spotlight. Countries voiced anger and despair as the talks unraveled, but said they wanted 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," 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: "For our islands this means that without global cooperation and state action, millions of tons of plastic waste will continue to be dumped in our oceans, affecting our ecosystem, food security, livelihood and culture." The High Ambition Coalition, which includes the European Union, the U.K. 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. The cluster of mostly oil-producing states calling themselves the Like-Minded Group — including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, Iran and Malaysia — want a much narrower remit. These countries railed against the negotiations being based on the entire life-cycle of plastic, from the petroleum-derived substance right through to waste. "Our views were not reflected ... Without an agreed scope, this process cannot remain on the right track," said Kuwait. Bahrain said it wanted a treaty that "does not penalize developing countries for exploiting their own resources." France's Ecological Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said, "I am disappointed, and I am angry," blaming a handful of countries, "guided by short-term financial interests," for blocking an ambitious treaty. "Oil-producing countries and their allies have chosen to look the other way," she said. 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, talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso produced two different draft texts on Wednesday and early Friday. The first was immediately shredded by countries, but while the second gained some traction, by sunrise, the game was up. Vayas said the session had merely been adjourned rather than ended. He said countries and the secretariat "will be working to try to find a date and also a place" for resuming the talks. The negotiations were hosted by the U.N. Environment Program. UNEP chief Inger Andersen said the Geneva talks had fleshed out the deeper details of where countries' red lines were. "They've exchanged on these red lines amongst one another — that's a very important step," she said. However, environmental NGOs warned that without radically changing the process to better reflect the majority view, future talks would hit the same dead end — while plastic garbage would continue choking the environment. The Center for International Environmental Law's David Azoulay said the talks had been an "abject failure" because some countries were out to "block any attempt at advancing a viable treaty." "We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result," said Greenpeace's delegation head Graham Forbes, blaming "fossil fuel interests" and "a handful of bad actors" for exploiting the consensus-based process to skewer meaningful action. The World Wide Fund for Nature said the talks exposed how consensus decision-making "had now "outplayed its role in international environmental negotiations." More than 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items. While 15% of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only 9% is actually recycled. Nearly half, or 46%, ends up in landfills, while 17% is incinerated and 22% 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 metric tons, while waste will exceed 1 billion metric tons, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Countries urged to ‘hold the line' in Geneva plastics treaty negotiations
Talks between nations to hammer out a plastics treaty to end plastic pollution continued behind closed doors in Geneva on Thursday, the final day of negotiations, as civil society groups urged countries to 'hold the line' to secure a strong agreement. With time running out to seal a deal between 184 countries, environmental groups expressed concern that frontline communities, Indigenous people and others suffering the worst impacts of the world's growing plastic crisis were being 'sold out' in an effort to secure a treaty, without meaningful or legally binding measures that would address the scale of the problem, 'at any cost'. This week's negotiations towards a legally binding agreement to tackle plastic pollution are the latest in five rounds of talks over the past two and a half years, which have so far failed to seal a deal. Talks at the UN offices stalled on Wednesday after a consensus draft treaty, presented by the chair of the event, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, was rejected by 80 countries. The ambitious countries – who want curbs on production – described it as 'unacceptable', a 'lowest common denominator' and a toothless waste management instrument, because it did not include production caps nor address the chemicals used in plastic products. Countries from the 'like minded' group, chiefly oil-producing countries and including Saudi Arabia, who want the treaty to focus on recycling and voluntary measures, said it crossed too many of their red lines and did not do enough to pare down the scope of the treaty. Graham Forbes, Greenpeace's head of delegation, said: 'The entire day has been behind closed doors. All of civil society is on edge, waiting to see what the next move is going to be from the chair and from the secretariat. We are nervous, we are anticipating, and we're concerned that we're going to be sold out in an effort to get a treaty at any cost. 'Civil society, frontline communities, Indigenous peoples, everyone is united in wanting to see something meaningful here. And we're praying that these governments are going to do the right thing and put our collective health before short term profits for the petrochemical sector.' A rush for a weak treaty in Geneva, Forbes said, 'would be a disaster'. Some NGOs said they had 'lost faith' in a process with the need for consensus between a majority of countries who want production caps versus a small but powerful minority of oil- and plastic-producing nations who continue to reject production limits. Christina Dixon, a campaign lead at the Environmental Investigation Agency, said the need for consensus was being 'weaponised'. 'A lot of civil society have lost faith in the process, because we've consistently seen a majority of countries aligning around a vision for the type of treaty that we'd be happy with. Yet, because of the way that this is being weaponised, we're constantly bowing to a small but vocal minority who are holding it hostage,' she said. This system was allowing a majority of countries to be 'drowned out', Dixon said. She urged: 'What we need to see tonight is that the views of that majority reflected fairly.' Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion Earlier on Thursday, Camila Zepeda, the director general for global affairs at Mexico's ministry of foreign affairs and a negotiator at the talks, said: 'If [the next treaty draft] is exactly the status quo, then we'll need to assess if it's better to then keep working and trying to find a better environment for this topic, but it's too early to tell … 'We understand it will be a very simple treaty at this stage. But if the key components are there and we can build it in time, then we will be signing. By now, we've given up bans, we've given up production limits. We've given up so much, so much. 'As ambitious countries, we want an outcome, and we see that if we don't get an outcome, we're risking a lot. But at the same time, we won't take just anything.' Ahead of this week's talks, an expert review published in the Lancet described plastics as 'a grave, growing and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health'. It estimated health-related damages globally added up to £1.1tn annually, with infants and children particularly vulnerable. However, some delegates were still hopeful. Sivendra Michael, the Fiji government's permanent secretary for the ministry of environment and climate change, said: 'There is still time. There are still processes that the chair can explore. There are many other innovative processes that have worked in other multilateral settings that can be explored. 'It's important for us to take a step back and reflect that we are negotiating at the edge of a planetary emergency.' The talks continue.
France 24
6 days ago
- Business
- France 24
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France 24
7 days ago
- General
- France 24
Plastic pollution treaty talks in disarray
With time running out to seal a deal among the 184 countries gathered at the United Nations in Geneva, several countries slammed a proposed compromise text put forward by talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso of Ecuador. A larger bloc of countries seeking more ambitious actions blasted what they consider a dearth of legally binding action, saying the draft text was the lowest common denominator and would reduce the treaty to a toothless waste-management agreement. But oil-producing states said the text went too far for their liking, crossing their red lines too and not doing enough in paring down the scope of the treaty. The talks towards striking a legally binding instrument on tackling plastic pollution opened on August 5. Five previous rounds of talks over the past two and a half years failed to seal an agreement, including a supposedly final round in South Korea last year. But countries seem no closer on a consensus on what to do about the ever-growing tide of plastic rubbish polluting land, sea and human health. With a day left to go, Vayas presented a new draft but the discussions quickly unravelled as the text was savaged from all quarters. 'Without ambition entirely' Panama said the goal was to end plastic pollution, not simply to reach an agreement. "It is not ambition: it is surrender," their negotiator said. The European Union said the proposal was "not acceptable" and lacked "clear, robust and actionable measures", while Kenya said there were "no global binding obligations on anything". Tuvalu, speaking for 14 Pacific island developing states, said the draft risked producing a treaty "that fails to protect our people, culture and ecosystem from the existential threat of plastic pollution". Britain called it a text that drives countries "towards the lowest common denominator", and Norway said "It's not delivering on our promise... to end plastic pollution." Bangladesh said the draft "fundamentally fails" to reflect the "urgency of the crisis", saying that it did not address the full life cycle of plastic items, nor their toxic chemical ingredients and their health impacts. "This is, as such, without ambition entirely," it said. 'Not worth signing' A cluster of mostly oil-producing states calling themselves the Like-Minded Group -- including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran -- want the treaty to focus primarily on waste management. Kuwait, speaking for the club, said the text had "gone beyond our red lines", adding that "Without consensus, there is no treaty worth signing." "This is not about lowering ambition: it's about making ambition possible for all," it said. Saudi Arabia said there were "many red lines crossed for the Arab Group" and reiterated calls for the scope of the treaty to be defined "once and for all". The United Arab Emirates said the draft "goes beyond the mandate" for the talks, while Qatar said that without a clear definition of scope, "we don't understand what obligations we are entering into". India, while backing Kuwait, saw the draft as "a good enough starting point " to go forward on finalising the text. 'Betrayal of humanity' Environmental non-governmental organisations also blasted the draft. The proposed text "is a gift to the petrochemical industry and a betrayal of humanity", said Greenpeace delegation chief Graham Forbes. The World Wide Fund for Nature called the draft text a "devastating blow" to people suffering from the impact of plastic pollution. The Center for International Environmental Law delegation chief David Azoulay said it "all but ensures that nothing will change" and would "damn future generations". 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.
