Food & Climate
During the global plastics treaty negotiations–the longest of the six conducted so far–two draft treaties were presented by the Chair, an elected official who oversees the conduct of the negotiations. Both were rejected by powerful coalition that included many countries that held sway over the proceedings
The inter-governmental negotiations began on March 2, 2022 after the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted Resolution 5/14 to “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding Instrument.” UNEA had estimated that 68 percent of plastic is landfilled or mismanaged, and nearly 23 million tonnes leaked into aquatic systems. The ambitious deadline set to solve these problems was 2024-end, but it was delayed to August 2025 (from 5 to 15).
On one hand were a group calling themselves the High Ambition Coalition (HAC), comprising nearly 95 countries in Europe, Africa, Japan, Canada, Pacific Island nations and others. They call themselves “High Ambition” because their primary demand is to curb plastic production and prohibit certain types of plastics (“Chemicals of Concern”) entirely.
On the other side were a coalition calling themselves “Like-Minded Countries”, composed largely of oil and petrochemical-producing states such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Kuwait that sought to emphasise management of plastic waste rather than restrictions on plastic production. While not part of this second grouping, the United States too rejected any treaty that would cap plastic production, according to a report seen by “Food & Climate” platform.
India pushed the global plastics treaty failure
India has thrown its weight firmly behind the “Like-Minded Countries”, which is often termed the “Low-Ambition Coalition”, and pushed the global plastics treaty failure.
On the final night of the latest negotiations–August 15–a draft treaty was released that was a significantly weakened version of what the HAC wanted. It sought entirely voluntary action by countries, lacked controls on production, imposed no restrictions on problematic and unnecessary products, and had no accountability mechanisms.
The HAC rejected this treaty. The LMCs saw even this text as a product of an “uninclusive process” that prevented them from talking about the “scope” of the treaty and prevented consensus over the “definitions” of plastics.
At the Global Plastics Treaty, India reiterated its position. “It is also important to recognise the historical contributions to the plastic pollution and in this light, as well as the respective capabilities of the nations, we emphasise that implementation of the treaty will be contingent on finance and means of implementation provided by the developed countries,” stated India at the Geneva session.
The third largest consumer of plastic globally
India is the third largest consumer of plastic globally, and the sector contributes more than $12 billion to the country’s economy. India’s stance on plastics has aligned with those of oil-extracting countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Russia that will be hit the hardest if there are curbs in plastic production (plastic is after all made from crude oil).
By not coming to a consensus on specifics, the number of “brackets” in the treaty document have increased. ‘Brackets’ within the text indicate that the matters have not been finalised: they are still up for discussion, debate and vote.
In effect the core of the treaty, that is, the type of plastic to be curbed and the nature of restrictions (whether these restrictions will be mandated on countries or left to them to implement) is still undecided.
“The number of brackets have gone from the 300s to 1000s,” quipped Rodríguez, the Colombian delegate on August 9.
Resolution of these “brackets” happens under rule 38 of the draft Rules of Procedures (ROP) that states that decisions on substantive matters must be made by consensus. That is, all parties need to agree on it. Failing this, the decision of a two-thirds majority vote will be accepted.
This rule is common in most UN-led negotiations, including the Conference of Parties (COP) negotiations on Climate Change. However, in the COP negotiations, this rule was “bracketed”, allowing for parties to question the rule if it was ever applied. In the global plastics treaty negotiations, this section of the RoP, which was provisionally accepted in 2023, was not “bracketed”. That is, countries, including LMCs and India, had “provisionally” accepted it then, according to “News Laundry”.