Talks to agree a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution are on the brink of collapse as almost 100 countries reject the draft deal.
The talks in Geneva were scheduled to conclude with an agreement today, but have now stalled.
Almost 100 countries have reportedly rejected the draft treaty text as it does not include caps on plastic production.
The previous meeting in Busan, South Korea, ended without agreement as several oil-producing nations rejected plastic production caps.
Ahead of the talks in Geneva, the United States reportedly urged several countries to reject limits on plastic production and plastic chemical additives.
In the communications dated July 25 and shared with countries at the outset of talks on Monday, the U.S. outlined its non-negotiable positions, which place it in direct opposition with more than 100 countries.
Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder, A Plastic Planet, Plastic Health Council, said the draft treaty is ‘doomed to be rejected’ by many member states as it ‘fundamentally fails’ to reflect the agreed goals set at INEA5.2 in 2022.
The science is clear: to reduce plastic pollution, we must make and use less plastic to begin with, so a treaty without reduction is a failed treaty.
“The UN assembly has been presented with a draft treaty that fails to mention the three most critical words: health and production caps,” Sutherland said.
“By ducking binding limits on production, the draft hands the fossil fuel industry a lifeline in plastics as the world moves away from oil and gas.”
Nicholas Mallos, vice president of Ocean Conservancy’s ocean plastics programme, called the draft text ‘completely unacceptable’.
“Further, the section on funding is inadequate for any treaty to be effectively implemented, threatening the ability for many Member States to achieve the goals of the agreement,” Mallos said.
“The science is clear: to reduce plastic pollution, we must make and use less plastic to begin with, so a treaty without reduction is a failed treaty.”
WWF has called on governments to reject the ‘deeply concerning’ text.
Zaynab Sadan, Global Plastics Policy Lead & Head of Delegation for INC-5.2, WWF, said: “Let’s be clear, this is not a global treaty. This is a collection of national and voluntary measures that will do nothing to address the worsening plastics crisis.
“After more than two and a half years of negotiations, this is the furthest we’ve been from finalising an effective treaty.”
“The ambitious majority of governments that have committed time and time again to a strong and effective treaty must immediately reject this text.”
Commenting, Diane Crowe, Group Sustainability Director at Reconomy, the international circular economy specialist, said: “After five rounds of inconclusive negotiations that began in 2022 to adopt a globally binding plastics treaty, this really is the last meaningful opportunity to reach an ambitious agreement on plastics.
“As plastic production has grown exponentially over the last few decades, we urge the delegates gathered from 170 countries to finally agree to a treaty that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics.”