Negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty stall

BarcelonaThe International negotiations to approve a Global Plastics Treaty are on the verge of collapse. The deadline for reaching an agreement technically ends at midnight, but expectations are very low after the widespread revolt against the latest draft released this Wednesday. An overwhelming majority of countries, out of the nearly 200 governments present at the Geneva summit, have rejected the text because it eliminates all the key points, especially the mandatory reduction in plastics production. The new version leaves it up to each country and with very weak wording, thus yielding to pressure from the group of oil-producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia, with the support of the United States.

Approval by "consensus" means that there can be no opposition, which on Thursday was delaying the final plenary session of the summit that was to approve the future UN treaty. Countries calling for greater ambition in the text were debating whether to accept a wording that many of them have called "unacceptable" or force a change and risk failing to approve the treaty this Thursday, with the possibility of extending the summit for another day or even postponing the decision until a new meeting. It already happened at last year's summit in South Korea.. This one in Geneva is the second attempt.

French President Emmanuel Macron himself called on the governments meeting in Geneva on Thursday to "rise to the health and environmental urgency" caused by plastics. "What are we waiting for to act? The global treaty against plastic pollution is our opportunity to change things. But the lack of ambition in the text presented yesterday at the United Nations is unacceptable," Macron told X.

The changes to the text have outraged most countries.

The initial texts of the agreement had successfully included an obligation for signatory countries to reduce or prohibit (if possible) the production, export, or import of plastics that could end up in public spaces or that could pose a risk to human health and the environment. They also committed to reducing or prohibiting the production of plastics containing harmful chemicals, including lead and cadmium, or that are difficult to recycle or reuse—that is, single-use plastics. An annex had even been added to the treaty listing a series of plastic products (spoons or straws, plastic chopsticks, and ear sticks, among others) that were to be phased out.

But Ecuadorian ambassador Luis Vayas, who is leading the negotiations, presented a new final text on Wednesday that eliminated all of this, sparking a furious reaction from observer NGOs and dozens of governments present at the summit, including all those from the Global South, but also from the Global South, which also expressed the European Union. The new text had succumbed to pressure from the group of oil-producing countries, led by Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and the United States, which have long been pushing for the treaty not to impose any reduction in plastics production.

"The new president's text mocks a three-year consultative process that showed broad support for an ambitious plastics treaty that would address the entire plastics lifecycle, including production," the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) denounced, adding: "This is... demands from petrochemical states and industry with weak, voluntary measures that ensure we continue to produce plastic at increasing levels indefinitely, fail to safeguard human health, endanger the environment, and condemn future generations."