UN plastic pollution talks end in ‘abject’ stalemate

Once again, global negotiations to secure a treaty to end plastic pollution have ended without agreement, after two weeks of talks in Geneva exposed irreconcilable divisions between petrochemical-producing nations and countries pushing for production caps.

- STUTI MISHRA CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT

Despite three years of negotiations and mounting evidence of the health and environmental toll of plastics, delegates failed to agree on whether it should stop the growth of plastic production and regulate harmful chemicals internationally.

The talks in Geneva were running overtime yesterday when countries rejected the proposal put forward by Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee, which many called weak and insufficient to deal with the scale of the problem.

This was the second time countries had gathered for the final negotiations for the treaty, after talks collapsed in Busan last year, where it was supposed to be finalised. Campaigners called the summit ended as an “abject failure” and a missed opportunity of a generation.

“In the final days of the negotiations, we have clearly seen what many of us have known for some time – some countries did not come here to finalise a text, they came here to do the opposite: block any attempt at advancing a viable treaty,” David Azoulay, health programme director at Center for International Environmental Law Environmental said.

Greenpeace said the failure to reach a consensus on plastic pollution must be a wake-up call for the world.