By AFP - Agence France Presse
Deep divisions on display in plastic pollution treaty talks
Sara Hussein and Roland de Courson
A final round of negotiations on a treaty to reduce plastic pollution opened on Monday, with deep differences between nations emerging almost immediately.
The meeting began just hours after a chaotic end to the COP29 climate talks in Baku, where delegates agreed to an increase in climate finance that developing countries deemed insufficient.
At the opening of the meeting on plastics, the Ecuadorian diplomat chairing the talks warned nations that the conference was about “much more than drawing up an international treaty.”
“This is about humanity rising to meet an existential challenge,” said Luis Vayas Valdivieso at a plenary session in Busan, South Korea.
Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that it has been found in clouds, in the deepest ocean trenches, and even in human breast milk.
And while almost everyone agrees that it's a problem, there's less consensus on how to solve it.
Among the most controversial issues are whether the treaty should limit plastic production, a possible ban on chemicals considered toxic to human health, and how to pay for implementation.
Big differences have marred four previous rounds of negotiations over the past two years, resulting in a long and contradictory draft treaty of more than 70 pages.
Valdivieso has produced an alternative document to synthesize delegations' views and move the negotiations forward.
However, several countries, including Russia and India, immediately opposed it.
“The reality is that many countries do not see themselves represented in this document,” warned the head of the Saudi Arabian delegation, Eyad Aljubran, speaking on behalf of the Arab group.
In 2019, the world produced around 460 million tons of plastic, a figure that has doubled since 2000, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Plastic production is expected to triple by 2060.
- We won't wait
Some countries, including the so-called High Ambition Coalition (HAC), which brings together many African, Asian, and European nations, want the treaty to address the entire “life cycle” of plastics.
This means limiting production, redesigning products for reuse and recycling, and dealing with waste.
More than 90% of plastic is not recycled, with more than 20 million tons leaking into the environment, often after just a few minutes of use.
On the other side are countries, mainly oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, who want the focus to be solely on waste.
Plastic is responsible for around 3% of global emissions, mainly due to its production from fossil fuels.
The HAC wants mandatory global targets for reducing production and warned ahead of the Busan talks that “vested interests” should not be allowed to stand in the way of an agreement.
Some observers believe that the negotiations are likely to falter and be extended - especially after the difficult negotiations at the UN climate and biodiversity conferences in recent weeks.
But on Monday afternoon, Valdivieso managed to get an agreement for negotiations to begin on the basis of his reduced document.
“I thank you very much for your flexibility,” he told the room.
The short notice has left some environmental groups worried that an agreement could be watered down to ensure that something is signed.
“The majority is there” for a strong treaty, said Eirik Lindebjerg, head of global plastics policy at WWF.
“The big question for the rest of the week is whether they will follow through with the necessary ambition or hide behind a few spoilers to water down the language and make weak compromises.”
The United States and China will be key to any agreement, as neither is openly on the side of either bloc.
Earlier this year, Washington raised hopes among environmentalists by signaling support for some production limits, a position that is now reportedly being rolled back.
The election of Donald Trump has also raised questions about the degree of ambition of the US delegation and whether negotiators should seek its support if a treaty is unlikely to be ratified by Washington.
Despite the challenging start, the head of the United Nations Environment Program advised patience.
“We are only in the first hours,” said Inger Andersen, noting that the Paris Climate Agreement took more than two decades to reach clear targets for global warming.
“We have to achieve something with targets, and we're not going to wait 21 years for that.”
sah/rsc
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