Latest talks on global plastics treaty end in stalemate

Reuters/Eloisa Lopez

• Attempt to curb plastic use
• Oil-producing nations object
• Fifth round of talks

Negotiations over creating a legally binding global treaty to combat plastic pollution adjourned on Monday with the 170 participating nations failing again to reach agreement.

Some oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, objected to proposals supported by more than 100 other nations to limit plastic production, Reuters reported.

Plastics are made from hydrocarbons – oil and gas – with Gulf countries among major petrochemicals producers worldwide.

The fifth round of talks – known officially as the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) – in the South Korean city of Busan ended in deadlock.

The fourth round of negotiations in Canada in April ended in a similar stalemate as the so-called Group of Like-Minded Countries, which reportedly includes plastics makers such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iran and China, rejected output restrictions.

One proposal proposed by Panama and backed by 100 countries, sought to put in place steps to implement a global plastic production reduction target. However this was opposed by the group of petrochemical-producing countries.

“There was never any consensus,” the Saudi Arabian delegate Abdulrahman Al Gwaiz was quoted as saying by Reuters. 

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A 2022 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecast plastic waste will triple by 2060. The study also warns that less than one-fifth of plastic waste will be recycled.

More than 100 nations back plastic production limits. Other contentious topics at the eight-day Busan conference included the management of plastic products, so-called chemicals of concern and the provision of financial aid to assist poorer nations in implementing a future treaty, Reuters reported.

According to a May 2023 UN report there are more than 3,200 “chemicals of concern” associated with plastic. Women and children are particularly susceptible to these toxic chemicals, with exposure to them potentially having severe or long-lasting effects.

The UN will now seek to resume this fifth round of talks next year at a venue and date yet to be decided.