Three days to finalize the global plastic treaty on plastic pollution.

Four Days Left to Draft a Global Plastic Treaty

With the UN summit set to conclude in four days, 184 nations are fighting over how far a new international agreement on plastic pollution should go.

The Negotiation Lag

• First‑week talks in Geneva fell behind schedule, leaving a draft that still lacks clear text.
• States remain deeply divided on the purpose and scope of the treaty that began negotiations two and a half years ago.

Technical Working Groups

Last week, working groups tackled a wide range of topics, from the design of plastic to waste management, production, recycling financing, and funding for waste collection in developing countries.

• They also examined molecules and chemical additives that pose environmental and health risks.

The Two Camps

The Like‑Minded Group

A cluster of oil‑producing states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Russia, Iran, and Malaysia, want the treaty to focus primarily on waste management.

• The United States and India also lean toward this approach.

The Ambitious Group

Calling themselves the “ambitious” group, these nations demand radical action written into the treaty.

• They want measures to curb the damage caused by plastic garbage, such as phasing out the most dangerous chemicals.
• They also insist on a clause that reins in plastic production, which is set to triple by 2060.
• The group includes the European Union, many African and Latin American countries, Australia, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, and island micro‑nations drowning in plastic trash.

Small Islands Speak Out

The Micronesian archipelago Palau, representing 39 small island developing states (SIDS), said the treaty must deal with removing the plastic garbage “already choking our oceans.”

• They warned that “SIDS will not stand by while our future is bartered away in a stalemate.”
• They added that “this brinkmanship has a real price: a dying ocean.”

Consensus Delusion?

While the treaty is set to be finalized by universal consensus, many low‑ambition countries are comfortable not budging.

According to Eirik Lindebjerg, the global plastics adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature, “We risk having a meaningless treaty without any binding global rules like bans and phase‑outs. This is unacceptable.”

He warned that “expecting any meaningful outcome to this process through consensus is a delusion. With the time remaining, the ambitious governments must come together as a majority to finalize the treaty text and prepare to agree it through a vote.”

EU Urges Speed

EU environment commissioner Jessika Roswall, due in Geneva on Monday, urged countries to hasten negotiations and not “miss this historic opportunity.”

She added that the draft treaty has ballooned from 22 to 35 pages, with the number of brackets in the text going up near five‑fold to almost 1,500 as countries insert a blizzard of conflicting wishes and ideas.

“With four more days to go, we have more square brackets in the text than plastic in the sea. It’s time to get results,” Roswall said.

Closing the Deadlock

70 ministers and around 30 senior government officials are expected in Geneva from Tuesday onwards and could help break the deadlock.

Now the world’s leaders face the challenge of turning a fragmented, lengthy draft into a binding, actionable treaty in a race against time.