UN plastic treaty talks collapse once more

United Nations negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution broke down early Friday, after participating countries were unable to reach consensus on the fundamental framework of the agreement. 

The latest setback in discussions followed a ten-day summit in the Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. After nearly three years of deliberations, it was meant to be the final round of negotiations after previous talks in Busan, South Korea also failed to yield a deal, News.Az reports citing Politico.

The U.N. has now hosted six rounds of talks between some 190 countries since 2022 aimed at coming up with a treaty to "end plastic pollution." The plastics industry currently accounts for 3.4 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions and plastic production is on track to almost triple by 2060.

Nonetheless, Heunicke added, a new draft treaty text presented Friday morning was "far more ambitious than the first draft that was presented some days ago," which "shows us that it is possible to build the bridges."

Sticking points throughout the negotiations have included how and whether to regulate plastic products globally, how binding the measures should be, language on reducing plastic production and financial support mechanisms to implement the treaty.

Civil society groups were bitterly disappointed by the outcome. No new draft text was formally accepted, so any future talks will be based on the draft from the Busan negotiations in December.

Many are calling on countries to abandon a consensus-based approach — which seeks to bring all countries on board rather than putting the treaty to a vote — arguing that the veto power the process offers has been weaponized by countries that don't actually want a treaty.

"What this meeting has shown is that this cannot go on like this," said David Azoulay of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) told POLITICO. "This is pointless ... If we don't try to change the rules, we're going to get the same result."