Greenpeace held a media briefing tonight to provide updates about INC5 Day 1. Here’s the key takeaways;
What is the current state of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, and what needs to happen to ensure their success?
The negotiations have begun once again with a small minority of countries threatening to use “process” to hold the rest of the world hostage while plastic continues to harm and poison people and the planet. It’s time for ambitious countries to step up with courage, follow the calls of science and justice, and demand a treaty that cuts plastic production and use. The stakes could not be higher. Failure is not an option.
Is reaching an agreement in Busan possible?
Recent events have surely increased the motivation of some member states to finish the negotiations and follow the mandate of UNEA 5.2. But we can all agree that the timeline for INC5 was made shorter by all the time wasted in previous INCs. The challenge is for low ambition countries to negotiate in good faith, and for the so-called high ambition countries to speak up and defend their stand.
Strong presence of petrochemical producers
Reducing production is essential to addressing plastic pollution—a fact already recognized by scientists and civil society. However, oil-producing countries are blocking progress in the negotiation rooms, pushing for a weaker agreement, which could have serious impacts on the climate, humanity, and biodiversity. We must ensure that a small minority does not dictate the future of our generation. Ambitious countries need to step up and strive for meaningful outcomes in the agreement. The Global Plastics Treaty represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to end plastic pollution.
South Korea’s role as host country
The vast majority of countries are here to engage in the negotiations. Unfortunately, we have wasted most of the available times with procedural issues that plagued the negotiations. What we need now is for some of the more ambitious countries to step up and demonstrate leadership to help us reach an agreement. It was noteworthy that the Korean government intervened during a plenary meeting to help move the process forward—we need to see more of this kind of action. As the host country of INC5, Korea has a tremendous responsibility to convene the countries and achieve meaningful results.
The Global Plastics Treaty and Trump
The Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda is unhelpful to achieving a strong Global Plastics Treaty. However, it is the Biden administration that is representing the USA at INC5 and it is up to the Biden administration to deliver on its promises to environmental justice communities, and climate commitments to deliver a strong global plastics treaty that reduces plastic production and use. A lack of leadership and failure at INC 5, would be a stain on Biden’s climate legacy.
The fact remains – regardless of who occupies the presidency, the global plastic crisis remains an urgent issue, with overwhelming public support for bold action to address its threats to human and planetary health. This moment calls for strong global leadership. We urge other nations to step up and drive an ambitious treaty that prioritizes the well-being of people and the planet over the profits of an unsustainable industry.
COP29 and the Plastics Treaty
Coming from COP29, which failed to provide adequate finance and achieve so little in regards to mitigation ambition for reduction of GHG emissions. The most vulnerable countries such as small islands developing countries especially face the greatest challenges of our collective failure. Unless we don’t highlight that plastics is about the climate crisis, we would end up with a weak treaty that is only about waste management or product designs, which doesn’t catch the urgency of this Treaty. In respect of the US election, the remaining G6 countries have a role to uphold multilateralism and international cooperation.
