Global Plastic Treaty. Negotiations in Geneva ended in failure

The eyes of the world were on the UN headquarters in Geneva last week, where representatives of more than 180 countries tried to agree on the first-ever global treaty to limit plastic waste. The Global Plastic Treaty, however, was not finalized. Whose interests turned out to be stronger than common goals?

What is the Global Plastic Treaty?

In March 2022, during the UN General Assembly in Nairobi, representatives of 175 countries agreed that the plastic pollution crisis requires a global approach. Eight months later, the first meeting (INC-1) took place, aimed at leading to the signing of the Global Plastic Treaty – a pact to reduce the number of plastic products and packaging and to establish production standards for plastics across their entire life cycle, from creation to disposal. Participants enthusiastically pointed to the 1987 Montreal Protocol as an example, which, thanks to international cooperation, reduced the amount of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere by 98 percent.

The meeting in Geneva was already the sixth round of talks on the Global Plastic Treaty and was supposed to be the last. Before the negotiations began, there was talk behind the scenes of a broad consensus on the need for action. After 10 days of intense discussions, on Friday morning, the chair of the negotiating committee presented a draft treaty, but delegates rejected it. As a result, efforts to reduce plastics worldwide reached an impasse.

A strong minority blocks the agreement

The plastic crisis on Earth is reaching catastrophic proportions. According to the OECD, more than 400 million tons of plastic products are produced globally each year, and this number could rise by 70 percent by 2040. Last year, plastic waste reached 220 million tons, of which only 9–10 percent was recycled. The Global Plastic Treaty was meant to counter this situation.

The devil, however, is in the details – the dispute is about the stage at which to fight plastics. Most countries demand strict limits on production, but Russia, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, among others, oppose this, as their economies rely heavily on oil extraction and processing. At a time of green energy development, plastics production appears to them as an important direction for the petrochemical market.

The vast majority of governments want a strong agreement, yet a handful of bad actors were allowed to use the process to drive such ambition into the ground, summarized Graham Forbes of Greenpeace USA. At the request of U.S. and Kuwaiti representatives, observers of the talks were denied the right to comment.

The echoes of Geneva’s failure

The treaty presented to delegates at the end of last week was described by most governments as unambitious – it was even called a gift to polluters. The proposed actions were entirely voluntary and did not address the source of the problem, namely plastic production.

A representative of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) called the document a giant step backward for humanity, the process, and the planet. His organization counted more than 230 lobbyists in Geneva representing the extractive and petrochemical industries. We have decades of evidence showing the fossil fuel and chemical industries’ playbook: deny, distract, derail, said Ximena Banegas of CIEL.

No treaty is better than a weak treaty that creates an illusion of progress and could discourage stronger action, added Renée Sharp, director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

For now, there are no concrete plans to resume negotiations. Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, stressed only that the process would not be halted, but she did not indicate when the Global Plastic Treaty could be adopted.