Each year, plastic pollution grows worse, trashing the ocean, harming wildlife, and threatening human health. The UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) launched negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution in March 2022, with the goal of concluding an agreement by the end of 2024. However, efforts to finalize an agreement stalled last month in Busan, Republic of Korea. After two years and five rounds of talks, countries still do not even agree on the treaty’s scope.
The High Ambition Coalition, including many European, African, and small island States, calls for bold measures to “turn off the tap” of plastic production and tackle pollution at its source. In contrast, the Like-Minded Group, led by petrostates like Saudi Arabia and the Russian Federation, argues that the treaty should focus primarily on downstream response measures, particularly waste management. The latest session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) refined the draft text but failed to bridge the competing visions. When negotiators reconvene in mid-2025, they must make meaningful progress. What options do they have?
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