Greenpeace activists board tanker to highlight calls for treaty on curbing plastic pollution

SEOUL – Greenpeace activists boarded a tanker off South Korea on Nov 30 in an action intended to draw attention to calls for a treaty to curb plastic pollution, the environmental group said.

Nearly 200 countries are in Busan to negotiate the deal, but there is

little sign of an agreement

with just a day left before talks are due to end.

Greenpeace said the tanker Buena Alba, anchored off the Hanwha TotalEnergies complex, was scheduled to pick up propylene, which is used to manufacture plastic.

“The activists boarded the vessel peacefully and met no reaction from the vessel crew,” said Greenpeace spokeswoman Angelica Pago.

“We painted ‘PLASTIC KILLS’ on the side of the vessel and the climbers successfully set up a camp,” she said.

“They intend to stay in order to continue putting pressure on the negotiators to resist fossil fuel and petrochemical industry interference in the talks, and to deliver a treaty that firmly cuts plastic production,” said Ms Pago.

A spokesman for South Korea’s coast guard said the police were “deployed on the ship, and we are making warning announcements to facilitate a safe disembarkation”.

He said a “thorough investigation” would be carried out to determine if there were any “illegal elements” to the protest.

Attempts to reach an agreement on curbing plastic pollution have stalled

over several key sticking points

, including whether to cut new plastic production.

Dozens of countries, backed by environmental groups, insist a treaty without production cuts will fail to solve the problem, but fiercely opposing them is a group of largely oil-producing states. AFP