Talks on landmark plastic pollution treaty ending without an agreement

Geneva — Negotiators working on a landmark treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution won’t reach an agreement during talks that extended into Friday in Geneva.

Nations were meeting for an 11th day at the United Nations offices there to try to complete a treaty to end the plastic pollution crisis. They remain deadlocked over whether the treaty should reduce exponential growth of plastic production and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics. More than 1,000 delegates took part in the talks.

The negotiations at the U.N. hub were supposed to be the last round and produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans. But just like at the meeting in South Korea last year, they’re leaving without a treaty.

The biggest issue of the talks has been whether the treaty should impose caps on producing new plastic or focus instead on things like better design, recycling and reuse.

Powerful oil- and gas-producing nations and the plastics industry oppose production limits. They want a treaty focused on better waste management and reuse.

Every year, the world makes more than 400 million tons of new plastic, and that could grow by about 70% by 2040 without policy changes. About 100 countries want to limit production. Many have said it’s also essential to address toxic chemicals used to make plastics.

Thursday was the last scheduled day of negotiations, but work continued into Friday.

Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee, wrote and presented two drafts of treaty text in Geneva based on the views expressed by the nations. The representatives from 184 countries didn’t agree to use either one as the basis for their negotiations.

Valdivieso said Friday morning as the delegates reconvened in the assembly hall that no further action is being proposed on the latest draft.

Delegates were still meeting and haven’t decided on next steps yet.

Representatives of Norway, Australia, Tuvalu and others nations said they were deeply disappointed to be leaving Geneva without a treaty.

European Commissioner Jessika Roswall said the European Union and its member states had higher expectations for this meeting and while the latest draft falls short on their demands, it’s a good basis for another negotiating session.

“The Earth is not ours only. We are stewards for those who come after us. Let us fulfill that duty,” she said.

Saudi Arabia said both drafts lacked balance, and Saudi and Kuwaiti negotiators said the latest proposal takes other states’ views more into account and addressed plastic production, which they consider outside the scope of the treaty.

That draft, released early Friday, didn’t include a limit on plastic production, but recognized that current levels of production and consumption are “unsustainable” and global action is needed. New language had been added to say these levels exceed current waste management capacities and are projected to increase further, “thereby necessitating a coordinated global response to halt and reverse such trends.”

The objective of the treaty was also revamped to state that the accord would be based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics.

Science shows what it will take to end pollution and protect human health, said Bethanie Carney Almroth, an ecotoxicology professor at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg who coleads the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty. The science supports addressing the full lifecycle of plastics, beginning with extraction and production, and restricting some chemicals to ensure plastics are safer and more sustainable, she added.

“The science has not changed,” she said. “It cannot be down negotiated.”

Environmentalists, waste pickers and Indigenous leaders and many business executives traveled to the talks to make their voices heard. Some used creative tactics, but are leaving disappointed. Indigenous leaders sought a treaty that recognizes their rights and knowledge.

A report published in the Lancet  medical journal the day before the Geneva talks began described plastic pollution  a “grave, growing and under-recognized danger” to health that is costing the world at least $1.5 trillion a year.

The report compared plastic to air and lead pollution and said plastic pollution’s impact on health could be mitigated by laws and policies.

“Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually,” it said.