Plastic pollution: new treaty presented in Geneva rejected by several countries

The text of a new draft treaty on plastic pollution, presented on Wednesday, August 13, at the UN plenary assembly in Geneva, was immediately rejected by several countries and strongly criticized by NGOs, notably due to the lack of reference to any constraints on the production of virgin plastic.

This text, written by the diplomat chairing the debates, is "unacceptable" , judged the delegates of Colombia, Chile and Panama, as well as the European Union, while the NGO Greenpeace considered that it is a "gift to the petrochemical industry and a betrayal of humanity" .

In Geneva, representatives from 184 countries, who have been working for nine days on a new version of this text, had great difficulty agreeing on the measures needed to reduce plastic pollution at the global level.

In the final phase of negotiations, dozens of ministers arrived in Geneva to try to unblock the process led by diplomats, but the negotiations, which pitted large blocs of countries against each other in a tense climate, were "very difficult," said Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke.

A group of oil-producing countries is rejecting any restrictions on the production of plastics, a derivative of oil, and any ban on molecules deemed harmful to the environment or health at the global level. These measures are strongly supported by another, larger group of "ambitious" countries, as well as NGOs.

The oil countries are arguing that there are technical flaws in the start of the negotiation process adopted by the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2022 (without Saudi Arabia being present), and are even questioning the scope of the treaty, arguing that it should only cover waste management , but not the upstream part of the plastic production cycle, nor health issues.

David Azoulay, director of the environmental health program at the Swiss think tank CIEL, had warned earlier in the day that the summary text published by the chairman of the debates would be "the lowest common denominator" , "very weak" , and that it would not be up to the standard of a treaty intended to resolve the plastic crisis.