No consensus on binding plastic treaty at talks in Geneva, delegates say

GENEVA – No consensus was reached during talks in Geneva on the world’s first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution, according to delegates.

Delegates discussing the world’s first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution failed to reach consensus, diplomats said on Aug 15, voicing disappointment and even rage that the 10-day talks produced no deal.

“South Africa is disappointed that it was not possible for this session to agree a legally binding treaty and positions remain far apart,” its delegate told a closing meeting of the negotiations early on Aug 15.

French ecology minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in the talks’ closing session that she was “enraged because despite genuine efforts by many, and real progress in discussions, no tangible results have been obtained”.

In an apparent reference to oil-producing nations, Colombia’s delegate Haendel Rodriguez said a deal had been “blocked by a small number of states who simply did not want an agreement.”

The path forward for the negotiations is uncertain. Some countries like Britain said that negotiations should resume but others described a broken process. “It is very clear that the current process will not work,” South Africa’s delegate said.

More than 1,000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in South Korea late in 2024 ended without a deal.

Talks to create the world’s first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution had went into overtime on Aug 14, with talks adjourned to the following day.

Countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs on what was meant to be the final day of negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva.

But with just 30 minutes left in the scheduled meeting, the chair of the talks of the International Negotiating Committee (INC), Luis Vayas Valdivieso, told delegates the negotiations would run into Aug 15.

The INC is a group established by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in 2022 with the mandate to develop a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution.

Diplomats and climate advocates had warned earlier this month that efforts by the EU and small island states to cap virgin plastic production - fuelled by petroleum, coal and gas - are threatened by opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the US under President Donald Trump.

“Of course we cannot hide that it is tragic and deeply disappointing to see some countries trying to block an agreement,” said Danish environment minister Magnus Heunicke on behalf of the EU.

He said the treaty was necessary to tackle “one of the biggest pollution problems we have on earth” and promised more efforts to reach a deal.

“We will keep on working until we have a treaty that will help us solve the problem,” he told reporters.

The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty.

In the late hours of Aug 14, countries awaited a new text which could be the basis for further negotiations after delegations who want an ambitious plastics treaty threw out the one proposed on Aug 13.

States pushing for a comprehensive treaty, including Panama, Kenya, Britain and the European Union, shared frustration that key articles on the full life cycle of plastic pollution from the production of polymers to the disposal of waste, as well as the harm to health, had been removed entirely from the text.

Oil-producing nations are against curbs on the production of virgin plastics derived from petroleum, coal, and gas, while others want it to be limited and to have stricter controls over plastic products and hazardous chemicals.

"It's proving unlikely all countries will be able to bridge their differences," said Ms Zaynab Sadan of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), adding that agreement was as far away as it had ever been in nearly three years of talks.

EU Commissioner Jessika Roswall said a “weak, static agreement serves no one”.

“A treaty that covers the full life cycle of plastics and can evolve with science is a vital step ... The next few hours will show whether we can rise to the moment,” she said in a statement.

Panama described the Aug 13 draft text as "repulsive" and called for a complete rewrite.

Saudi Arabia, which is resisting major curbs, said nothing could be agreed until the treaty's scope is clearly defined.

On Aug 14, advocacy groups held a banner and chanted urging against a "weak treaty" as they waited for delegates to arrive in the UN plenary hall in Geneva for further discussions.

The OECD warns that without intervention, plastic production will triple by 2060, further choking oceans, harming health, and exacerbating climate change.

"It will be very important to spend every single hour of the last day of negotiation finding a good text that can deliver on the promise to end plastic pollution," said Ms Giulia Carlini, a Senior Attorney for the Environmental Health Program of the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL).

Compromise

Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, co-chair of the High Ambition Countries group, told Reuters that all parties need to compromise.

"We are willing to discuss all articles, three, six, for example, to be able to create the package that can be good enough for everyone," he said, pointing to potential openness to re-discussing restrictions on chemicals and production.

"We're optimistic ... We think this can be really good for our industry, society, and for the environment," Mr Ross Eisenberg, president of America's Plastic Makers, which is part of the American Chemistry Council, told Reuters.

The Council, which supports a deal without limits on plastic production, warned that the US might not ratify a treaty containing provisions to ban chemicals or restrict plastic production.

However, Colombian lawmaker Juan Carlos Lozada urged that no deal would be better than a watered-down deal.

Some 300 businesses, including Unilever, have pressed for an ambitious treaty that harmonizes rules globally.

“If we don’t get that degree of harmonisation, we risk further fragmentation ... and higher costs,” Ed Shepherd, senior global sustainability manager at Unilever, told Reuters. REUTERS