{"id":146154,"date":"2025-08-14T22:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146154\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T22:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T22:09:09","slug":"nations-deadlocked-over-plastic-production-limits-in-global-treaty-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/146154\/","title":{"rendered":"Nations deadlocked over plastic production limits in global treaty talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

GENEVA (AP) \u2014 Negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution<\/a> will draw to a close Friday, as nations remain deadlocked over whether to tackle the exponential growth of plastic production.<\/p>\n

A new draft of the treaty was expected Thursday, the last scheduled day of negotiations, and a meeting for all of the delegates was scheduled. It was repeatedly postponed until just before midnight. Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee, called delegates to the assembly hall, but said consultations on the revised draft were still ongoing. <\/p>\n

He adjourned in less than a minute and quickly left the stage. Some in the audience gasped. They will reconvene Friday.<\/p>\n

Many delegations said the current treaty text is unacceptable. A draft of the treaty released Wednesday<\/a> wouldn\u2019t limit plastic production or address chemicals used in plastic products. <\/p>\n

Instead, it\u2019s centered on proposals where there\u2019s broad agreement \u2014 such as reducing the number of problematic plastic products that often enter the environment and are difficult to recycle, promoting the redesign of plastic products so they can be recycled and reused, and improving waste management. <\/p>\n

It asks nations to make commitments to ending plastic pollution, rather than imposing global, legally-binding rules. <\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron said the \u201clack of ambition\u201d in the draft treaty was unacceptable, and that agreeing to a global treaty against plastic pollution \u201cis our opportunity to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, our health is more threatened. What are we waiting for to take action?\u201d he wrote on LinkedIn. \u201cI call on all states present in Geneva to adopt a text that meets the environmental and health emergency. For our health. For our environment. For our children.\u201d<\/p>\n

The talks involve representatives from 184 countries and more than 600 organizations.<\/p>\n

About 100 countries want to limit production<\/p>\n

Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Norway\u2019s minister for climate and the environment, said the current text is unacceptable and the country\u2019s representatives won\u2019t leave Geneva with \u201cjust any treaty.\u201d Norway is helping to lead a coalition of countries called the High Ambition Coalition that want a comprehensive approach to ending plastic pollution, including reducing production. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to be flexible, but at the same time ambitious in our positions, and work with every single hour that we have left to bring this to a conclusion, a positive conclusion, because the world needs a plastics treaty now.\u201d <\/p>\n

Eriksen said he\u2019ll stay \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d until the bitter end. <\/p>\n

Every year, the world makes more than 400 million tons of new plastic, and that could grow<\/a> by about 70% by 2040 without policy changes. About 100 countries want to limit production as well as tackle cleanup and recycling. Many have said it\u2019s essential to address toxic chemicals. <\/p>\n

Powerful oil and gas-producing nations and the plastics industry oppose production limits. They want a treaty focused on better waste management and reuse. They have raised different concerns with the draft text, saying it doesn\u2019t have the scope they want to set the parameters of the treaty or precise definitions.<\/p>\n

Proposals on plastic products<\/p>\n

Luay Almukhtar, head of Iraq\u2019s delegation, said Iraq would not support a treaty that reduces the production of polymers used to make plastics because it\u2019s not in their interest and it could negatively impact society and economies. <\/p>\n

But he said Iraq supports restricting certain chemical additives for some applications and reducing some single-use and short-lived plastic products. Limiting those products, in turn, would reduce plastic production, he added. He hopes to leave Geneva with a treaty. <\/p>\n

\u201cPlastic pollution is a big environmental issue and we have to work together to defeat it. That\u2019s why we are here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe try to be a bridge, in the middle, on this issue and we are also practical. It\u2019s a balanced approach between environment and economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camila Zepeda, from Mexico\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, said it doesn\u2019t seem feasible at this stage to get a limit on production. But, she said, they want to see more in the treaty on sustainable production and consumption than the brief mention in the current preamble.<\/p>\n

Mexico and Switzerland are also leading the push for the article to address problematic plastic products, including chemicals and single-use plastics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on the final stretch, but we remain hopeful and we remain committed to making sure that we\u2019re putting back in the text some provisions that will allow us to to strengthen it, to deliver, and to have an impact,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Sixth round of talks<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the sixth time nations are meeting and the 10th day of negotiations. Talks last year in South Korea were supposed to be the final round, but they adjourned in December at an impasse<\/a> over cutting production.<\/p>\n

Some in attendance wondered whether the outcome in Geneva will be the same. <\/p>\n

Sivendra Michael, Fiji\u2019s permanent secretary for environment and climate change, emphatically rejected the idea of another meeting. It is costly, unfair, and tedious to travel so far to continuously restate positions, he said Thursday. He said he firmly believed this meeting should conclude with a formal treaty that will be acceptable to all.<\/p>\n

However, Hiwot Hailu, chief of staff for the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, said Ethiopia supports meeting again if nations can\u2019t reach agreement on financing the accord and addressing the full lifecycle of plastics, including production, design and disposal. <\/p>\n

It would be better to not have a treaty, rather than a weak one, Hailu said. <\/p>\n

Jessika Roswall, the European commissioner for the environment, said the treaty must cover the full lifecycle of plastics and be able to evolve over time with science. <\/p>\n

\u201cA weak, static agreement serves no one,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cThe next few hours will show whether we can rise to the moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GENEVA (AP) \u2014 Negotiations on a global treaty to end plastic pollution will draw to a close Friday,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":146155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[86480,86481,10106,8703,10102,57,26366,3464,4785,86482,50,18242,2128,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-146154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-andreas-bjelland-eriksen","9":"tag-camila-zepeda","10":"tag-climate-and-environment","11":"tag-emmanuel-macron","12":"tag-energy-industry","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-geneva","15":"tag-international-agreements","16":"tag-iraq","17":"tag-luis-vayas-valdivieso","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-norway","20":"tag-pollution","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}