“It is sad to think that nature speaks, and human beings do not listen. When we listen to nature and we act, we can make progress.” – French writer Victor Hugo, quoted at INC-2
Surfrider Europe's Diane Beaumenay-Joannet and Surfrider's Jennifer Savage
Despite initially successful efforts to delay progress, the second round of talks to solve the global problem of plastic pollution concluded late Friday night with just enough accomplished to make the week count. Positive outcomes included some countries, including France and the European Union (thank you, Surfrider Europe!) calling for global reduction targets on plastic production, preventing the release of microplastics into the environment and prioritizing a just transition to safer and more sustainable livelihoods for workers across the plastics supply chain.
Standing in the way, however, are certain parties with strong vested interests in the oil and petrochemical industry that want to make the potential treaty as weak as possible so that fossil plastic production can continue unabated. For the first three of five working days, these representatives of large plastics producer nations kept discussions hung up in a debate over procedural rules, insisting the Global Plastic Treaty be decided by consensus rather than by vote. Requiring consensus instead of a two-third majority vote would effectively give any one country veto power over the entire treaty, meaning true progress would be impossible.
Further, many countries – including the United States – continued to call for disparate national action plans when addressing many substantive obligations, such as reduction and reuse targets and criteria on alternatives. Some countries continued to promote chemical recycling, and many were still predominantly focused on recycling and managing plastic pollution downstream.
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Although the U.S. did acknowledge the environmental and human harm done at every stage of plastic production, the repetitive call for merely voluntary measures continued to disappoint us. Without binding global commitments to reduce plastic production, nations will sidestep global accountability and the health of our ocean, planet and people will continue to suffer. We insist the U.S. to join other leaders in making bolder commitments that will truly restore hope for the future.
Major goal met
Ultimately, the major goal of INC-2 was met. The meeting concluded with a mandate for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) Chair to prepare a “zero draft” of the Global Plastic Treaty agreement ahead of INC-3, which will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, in November. (A “zero draft” is a first attempt to assemble thoughts related to a research topic or question, a more or less unstructured piece of writing.) Negotiations will continue at INC-4 in Ottawa, Canada, in April 2024, and INC-5 in the Republic of Korea in October or November 2024.
What happens next?
Accredited NGOs (that’s us!) have until August 15 to submit additional comments on the work we believe needs to be done. With the leadership of Surfrider Europe, we are working with our affiliates across the globe to make sure the Global Plastic Treaty results in tangible steps to stop the damage plastic pollution is doing to our ocean, wildlife and human health.
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Additionally, Surfrider aligns with our partners in the Break Free From Plastic movement on the following:
Want to know more? Find resources from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) here.