Countries fail to agree on global treaty to curb plastic pollution

Delegates attending the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea, leave the coastal and mountainous city disgruntled and without an agreement on a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution.

In a closing plenary session that ended a few minutes after 3am on Monday morning, INC chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso said in his introductory remarks that there was a general agreement to resume the negotiations at a later date in 2025.

The decision means delegates have overshot a two-year deadline set in March 2022 in Nairobi during the fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (Unea 5.2).

By 7pm, more than 3,000 delegates had filled the hall, awaiting the final text from the chairman at the closing plenary. At 9pm, he took the dais, accompanied by his colleagues from the Secretariat.

From the outset of his remarks, the failure of countries to reach a mutual consensus through the multilateral process at INC 5 was evident. 

"Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," said Valdivieso.

“Our mandate has always been ambitious. But ambition takes time to land. We have many of the elements that we need, and Busan has put us firmly on a pathway to success. I call on all delegations to continue making paths, building bridges, and engaging in dialogue,” he added.

Red lines

Most of the issues discussed over the past eight days remain contentious - or 'bracketed', as it is known in negotiating circles.

Countries have failed to agree on critical clauses such as capping plastic production, the supply and management of plastic products, and the implementation of the necessary financial mechanism.

The five-hour closing plenary was a two-sided battle: one between countries defending their economies and another of those safeguarding the future of our planet.

No country found the process satisfactory, with most delegations accusing the chairperson of not including their non-negotiables in the final paper.

Red lines were crossed, but a consensus was reached to allow countries to negotiate in another forum labelled INC 5.2.

UN Environment Programme (Unep) Executive Director Inger Andersen urged countries to keep the faith despite the apparent divergence on critical issues from the member states.

“The world’s commitment to ending plastic pollution is clear and undeniable. Here in Busan, talks have moved us closer to agreeing on a global legally binding treaty that will protect our health, environment, and future from the onslaught of plastic pollution,” she said.

Speaking to Nation.Africa shortly after the closing plenary, Dorothy Otieno, programmes coordinator at the Centre for Environmental Justice and Development, said that a few countries have derailed the process in Busan. She added that countries have to consider other options.

“The right to vote is needed where consensus fails to allow progress. Because of a lack of agreement at this time, the demands remain the same, that the treaty must address the full lifecycle of plastics, call for a reduction of primary plastic production with clear mandate for countries to comply, for chemicals of concern to be addressed swiftly to protect human health and the environment, and for finances to be made available to support countries that need it the most to address plastic pollution,” she said. 

On behalf of countries Standing up for Ambition, Juliet Kabera, Rwanda’s director general of the Environment Management Authority, stole the show by asking countries that are mostly for capping plastic production to stand and be noticed before the plenary.

“We are operating under a clear mandate from the UN Environment Assembly - a mandate fully supported by all INC members. It is time we take it seriously and negotiate a treaty that is fit for purpose and not built to fail,” she said.

Panama’s Head of delegation warned member states that ‘every day of delay is a day against humanity. Postponing negotiations does not postpone the crisis.’

“Our disposal to negotiate does not mean we will lower our expectations of what this treaty should be able to achieve and encompass. To the 120 nations standing for ambition, I say: let us be relentless. We may have been delayed, but we will not be stopped,” he said.

Some petrostates, such as Saudi Arabia, hich have been particularly opposed to capping plastic production, also said the session was not inclusive, and accused the chairperson of snubbing their recommendations.

"There are a couple of articles that somehow seem to make it (into the document) despite our continued insistence that they are not within the scope,” he said.

Observers felt betrayed as they told members that there’s no time to keep pushing such critical talks. Some, like the Indigenous People caucus, felt flagrantly excluded.

“The chair’s failure to effectively facilitate negotiations for a just and equitable plastics treaty has brought us down a dead-end path, perpetuating harm to the most impacted peoples and communities,” said a representative from the International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Plastics.

Christina Dixon, ocean campaign lead at the Environmental Investigation Agency, decried the intrusion of petrochemical industry campaigners trying to influence the process.

“These negotiations have been captured by plastic and petrochemical industries and their aligned countries, who have no intention to address plastic pollution or let others do so. In the face of this obstructionism, large groups of diverse countries led rallying calls for an ambitious treaty,” she said.

“We have won the hearts and minds of the majority of the world and will continue to fight in solidarity with those seeking real solutions to end the harms of plastic pollution,” she added.

→ [email protected]