Oceanographic, July 2025
A group of over 60 leading scientists from around the world has issued an urgent call for governments to agree on ambitious and enforceable action to tackle plastic pollution, branding the final round of UN Global Plastics Treaty negotiations “the world’s last chance to act.” In a rare collective intervention, open letters have been published from across a number of global institutions, each of them demanding that leaders agree upon a binding plastics treaty grounded in science, justice, and a “bold political will.”
Among the demands is an emphasis on the need to phase out toxic additives and chemicals from the plastic production process, while reducing the conveyor belt of production altogether. “This is not just a call for action, this is the scientific community bearing witness,” said Professor Steve Fletcher, editor-in-chief of Cambridge Prisms: Plastics in which the letters have been published. “We have watched the evidence pile up for decades. This treaty is a test of whether the world is prepared to govern plastics in a way that reflects the scale and urgency of the crisis.”
