Global discussions on a comprehensive international accord commence in Geneva
In Geneva, representatives from nearly 180 countries are gathering under the auspices of the United Nations for a 10-day meeting, aiming to finalize a legally binding Global Plastics Treaty. This treaty, three years in the making, is a critical step towards ending plastic pollution worldwide.
The central contention in these negotiations is between the High Ambition Coalition and a "like-minded" group, primarily fossil fuel-producing countries. The High Ambition Coalition, consisting of over 70 countries, advocates for a treaty including legally binding limits on plastic production and restrictions on hazardous chemicals in plastics. On the other hand, the "like-minded" group, which includes countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and China, opposes production limits and focuses on waste management, recycling, and cleanup.
This division has repeatedly stalled and complicated the treaty talks. While the treaty text under discussion contains 32 draft articles covering the full plastic lifecycle, consensus remains elusive. Procedural rules require consensus where possible, and a two-thirds majority vote can only be used as a last resort, further complicating agreement.
Scientific evidence and advocacy groups are putting pressure on the delegates ahead of the meeting. For instance, a report published in The Lancet warns that plastic pollution is a "grave, rising, and underestimated threat" to health, costing the world at least $1,500 billion a year. Vulnerable people, especially children, are most affected by plastic pollution, according to experts like Philip Landrigan, a physician and researcher at Boston College in the United States.
To raise awareness of the impact of plastic pollution on human health, an ephemeral and evolving artistic installation, "The Burden of the Thinker," was installed in Geneva. The installation is a reproduction of Auguste Rodin's famous statue trapped in a sea of plastic waste, created by Canadian artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong.
Matthew Kastner, spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, defends plastic, stating it is "vital to public health" due to its role in providing sterile medical equipment, surgical masks, tubes, pipes, and packaging that improve hygiene and food safety. However, the criticism against the "like-minded" group's approach is that focusing only on recycling and waste fails to address the root causes and ongoing production of plastics, and tends to perpetuate environmental and health harms.
The negotiations will include discussions on chemicals to be banned and production ceilings. Key recommended elements by health and environmental advocates include mandating health and environmental protections as core treaty goals, capping and reducing plastic production, especially toxic plastics, eliminating toxic chemicals and unsafe recycling of hazardous plastic, using financing mechanisms like extended producer responsibility and the polluter-pays principle, and ensuring full lifecycle accountability and transparency.
The treaty aims for systemic transformation, promoting a circular economy approach—moving beyond recycling alone to fundamentally reduce plastic pollution globally. The outcome of these negotiations will depend on resolving conflicts between major fossil fuel-producing countries and a large coalition pushing for ambitious, production-level controls and health protections.
- The debate within the United Nations meeting in Geneva, focusing on the Global Plastics Treaty, is primarily centered around the High Ambition Coalition and a group of fossil fuel-producing countries, with the former advocating for a treaty that includes legally binding limits on plastic production and restrictions on hazardous chemicals in plastics.
- As the negotiations progress, scientific evidence and advocacy groups, such as those that published a report in The Lancet, are putting pressure on the representatives, highlighting the serious health implications of plastic pollution, which costs the world at least $1,500 billion a year and poses significant risks to vulnerable populations, particularly children.
- In light of these concerns, key recommended elements proposed by health and environmental advocates for the Global Plastics Treaty include mandating health and environmental protections as core treaty goals, capping and reducing plastic production, especially toxic plastics, and adopting funding mechanisms like the polluter-pays principle to ensure a circular economy approach, moving beyond recycling and fundamentally reducing plastic pollution worldwide.
