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Pressure from an increasingly large bloc of countries has offered hope that a breakthrough at critical international plastic treaty talks could be in sight at last, after two years of deadlock. But some warned that fragile progress could disappear again in the last stages of negotiations over the weekend.
For some time, the talks have been split over demands for the treaty to include plans to reduce the amount of plastic that is being produced – a production cap. A draft text for a final deal published on Friday included language for a global target to reduce the amount of plastic made. But it also included another option for no text – meaning no action would be taken to reduce plastic production worldwide. The final text, using one of these options, will hopefully be agreed over the weekend.
Plastic production is increasing, and could triple by 2050, projections show, piling pressure on the environment and increasingly on human health. Plastic microparticles and plastic chemicals have been detected everywhere from human placentas to breastmilk, and research shows that global production controls are critical to bringing plastic pollution under control.
The talks, at Busan in South Korea, are the fifth in a two-year UN treaty-drafting process to address plastic pollution across its full lifecycle, with the aim to lock down a final text by Sunday. The ambitious wording reflects the growing momentum from 102 nations that have banded together over the last few months and days to demand that plastic curbs are included, led by the Pacific Small Island Developing States and Panama, and including the European Union’s 27 member states and 38 African countries.
Their collective voice on production signals “an important shift”, says Dennis Clare, a legal adviser for the Federated States of Micronesia. “This treaty is not about the negotiators. This treaty is about the people of today, the people of tomorrow. It’s not about the industries of the previous century. It’s about minimising human suffering.”
However, a small group of nations, nicknamed the Low Ambition Coalition by observers, have reportedly sought to derail any mention of production in the evolving treaty text. Delegates attending the talks are not at liberty to disclose who these nations are, because negotiations happen behind closed doors. But many public statements and documents shared by Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and some others show that these countries oppose production cuts and want the treaty to tackle pollution by managing waste. There is also concern that industry lobbyists present on their delegations are influencing their interests, and the ambition of the treaty overall.
Clare pointed out that there was no guarantee the final treaty would maintain an ambitious text on production cuts. “It’s just one of the options,” he said.
The process has been made more complicated because, as in many multilateral environmental agreements, countries have been trying to make such decisions through general consensus, which has proved impossible. The gridlock might have been resolved by a vote to move things forward with a majority decision, but that has been stymied by earlier disagreements over the voting rules, which have not been resolved.
In the face of this impasse, on Friday civil society groups in Busan staged a meeting where they called for “courage not compromise” and urged the ambitious cohort of countries to take the procedural routes available to them to get the treaty they wanted.
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Speaking at a press conference, Panama’s delegation gave signs that the bloc could be willing to push back against low-ambition nations. “We seek their leadership, we want their leadership. But if they’re not willing to lead, please – leave it to the rest of us, and get out of our way,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez, the special representative for climate change for the government of Panama.
On Saturday, countries will meet again to discuss the recently released draft. With expected tensions, many decisions still to be taken, and the document yet to be legally drafted, some have expressed doubt the process could be completed by the Sunday deadline.
But after a dismal year of environmental agreements, there was a growing feeling among countries that this plastics treaty had to deliver something for the planet and people, said Sivendra Michael, the permanent secretary for ministry of environment and climate change for the government of Fiji. “I feel that we should be optimistic, even if my heart is giving up in those negotiating rooms,” he said.
The international alliances that had formed over the past few days were cause for optimism, Michael believed. “That’s what fuels my hope. Because there’s a great lot of countries that want to see the betterment of this planet.”
