Plastics treaty talks in Geneva adjourned after failure to reach consensus

Geneva: Following 10 days of negotiations, Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) talks to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, adjourned early Friday without consensus on a text of the instrument. The committee agreed to resume negotiations at a future date to be announced.

The meeting adjourned with a clearly expressed desire by member states to continue the process, recognizing the significant difference of views between states.

This resumed fifth session (INC-5.2) saw more than 2,600 participants gather at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, including over 1,400 member delegates from 183 countries, and close to 1,000 observers representing over 400 organizations.

Some 70 ministers and vice-ministers, as well as 30 other high-level representatives, also held informal roundtables on the margins of the session.

“This has been a hard-fought 10 days against the backdrop of geopolitical complexities, economic challenges, and multilateral strains. However, one thing remains clear: despite these complexities, all countries clearly want to remain at the table. While we did not land the treaty text we hoped for, we at UNEP will continue the work against plastic pollution — pollution that is in our groundwater, in our soil, in our rivers, in our oceans and yes, in our bodies,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The goal of INC-5.2 was to agree on the instrument’s text and highlight unresolved issues requiring further preparatory work ahead of a diplomatic conference.

The session followed a structured approach, starting with an opening plenary, transitioning into four contact groups tackling key areas like plastic design, chemicals of concern, production caps, finance, and compliance, followed by a stocktake plenary, informal consultations, and ending with a closing plenary on August 15.

A Chair’s Text from INC-5.1 in Busan served as the starting point for negotiations at INC-5.2, with the Chair releasing a Draft Text Proposal and a Revised Text Proposal over the course of the session.

Despite intensive engagement, members of the committee were unable to reach consensus on the proposed texts. “Failing to reach the goal we set for ourselves may bring sadness, even frustration. Yet it should not lead to discouragement. On the contrary, it should spur us to regain our energy, renew our commitments, and unite our aspirations,” said INC Chair Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso.

“It has not happened yet in Geneva, but I have no doubt that the day will come when the international community will unite its will and join hands to protect our environment and safeguard the health of our people.”

This INC process kicked off in March 2022, at the resumed fifth session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2), when a historic resolution was adopted to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

“As this session concludes, we leave with an understanding of the challenges ahead and a renewed and shared commitment to address them,” said Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary of the INC Secretariat.

“Progress must now be our obligation.”

Responding to the failure to reach consensus, Indian public policy analyst Dharmesh Shah said, “Progress has been held back by a small group of countries whose insistence on consensus-only decision-making has given the least ambitious voices the power to block measures supported by the majority — from production caps to controls on toxic chemicals.

“This approach has delayed urgent action and weakend the treaty’s potential to protect health and human rights. Countries with the capacity and influence to lead, including India, have a choice: step up with ambition and help deliver a treaty that meets the scale of the crisis, or risk being remembered for defending the status quo while the world called for change.”

The session also involved the active participation of civil society, including Indigenous People, waste pickers, artists, young people, and scientists, who raised their voices through protests, art installations, press briefings and events at and around the Palais. The Geneva session follows INC 5.1, which took place in November-December 2024 in Busan in Korea.

That meeting was preceded by four sessions: INC-1 in Punta del Este in November 2022, INC-2, held in Paris in June 2023, INC-3 in Nairobi in November 2023, and INC-4, which took place in Ottawa in April 2024.

IANS