Plastic treaty negotiations go down to the wire

Next week, negotiators from almost every UN member state will meet in Switzerland to thrash out the final details of a global treaty to end plastic pollution. The discussions have dragged on for over three years and were supposed to conclude at a fifth round of talks held last December in South Korea. However, negotiators adjourned that session without reaching an agreement on the treaty’s text, and will now reconvene in Geneva in an attempt to resolve the most contentious issues.

Since the beginning of the negotiations, dividing lines have been drawn up between a so-called ‘high-ambition coalition’ of countries favouring a stronger treaty, and a smaller number of petrostates that have sought to delay and weaken it.

Two key topics have been at the centre of the debate: commitments to reduce production of virgin plastic, and potential restrictions on using particularly harmful chemicals in the manufacturing process.