Final Round of Negotiations on Global Plastic Treaty Begins in South Korea

Busan, South Korea – 25 November 2024 – After the 4^th meeting (INC-4) held in Ottawa, Canada, delegates and observers have gathered again in South Korea for the final round of negotiations on the Global Plastic Treaty (INC-5).

This pivotal session will take place from November 25 to December 1, 2024, aiming at the development of a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including its impact on the marine environment. Also CCB, along with other civil society organizations from across the globe – such as its Member Organization the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation - are actively engaged in these negotiations.

In her opening statement, UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, remarked:
“Today marks one thousand days since the historic UNEA resolution greenlighting these negotiations. While some multilateral agreements have taken decades to finalize, this represents good progress. However, plastic pollution operates on a different timescale. Some plastics take up to one thousand years to decompose. Even then, they break down into smaller particles that persist, pervade, and pollute.

This pollution harms the natural systems and species we rely on, hampers our ability to adapt to climate change, damages ecosystem resilience, and blocks drainage systems in cities. It very likely also harms human health. Furthermore, the continued growth of plastic production emits greenhouse gases, pushing us closer to climate disaster.”

Eugeniy Lobanov, CCB Hazardous Substances Working Area Leader, emphasizes the critical moment the negotiation process is currently living:
“We are at a crucial juncture, with sharp differences in interests among groups of Member States. It is imperative to craft a Treaty that addresses the full life cycle of plastics, including upstream activities such as production and content regulation. Managing plastic waste alone will never suffice.

Another vital element is the inclusion of health provisions in the treaty. The INC must retain references to protecting human health and the environment, maintaining the objective of safeguarding both through this instrument.”

Campaigners, businesses, and members of the High Ambition Coalition—an alliance comprising EU member states and southern hemisphere nations where much of the world’s waste is dumped or incinerated—support production limits as the most effective way to curb plastic waste and encourage recycling.

The EU’s Role in Tackling Plastic Waste

In the European Union, upcoming regulations aim to shift the responsibility for managing plastic and other packaging waste onto the companies that produce it.

The revised Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, an update to a 1994 EU Regulation, is expected to come into force next year. Under this directive, every EU country will be required to implement Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes to achieve a 5% reduction in waste by 2030 and a 15% reduction by 2040.

Lawmakers have also agreed to make all packaging reusable or recyclable by 2030 and to ban certain single-use packaging items, such as lightweight plastic bags and condiment sachets, by the same deadline.

Progress in Negotiations

Since its inception in 2022, the INC has convened four times (INC-1, INC-2, INC-3, and INC-4), overcoming initial procedural challenges and advancing to text-based negotiations based on a draft compilation of the future treaty.

During INC-5, the Committee is expected to divide into four contact groups to address key issues:

Plastic Products and Production: Including chemicals of concern, product design, and supply chain aspects.
Plastic Waste Management: Covering emissions, releases, existing pollution (including in marine environments), and just transitions.
Finance and International Cooperation: Establishing financial mechanisms, capacity building, technical assistance, technology transfer, and cooperative efforts.
Implementation and Compliance: Addressing national plans, reporting, monitoring progress, evaluating effectiveness, sharing information, and raising awareness through education and research.

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Article written by Eugeniy Lobanov, CCB Hazardous Substances Working Area Leader

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Fishing & NGOs:Sustainable herring fishing in the Gulf of Bothnia is strengthened through better knowledge, long-term and ecosystem-based fisheries management, and protection of herring spawning areas

By CCB • May 28, 2026

28 May 2026 - Baltic Sea herring stocks and the herring fisheries have in recent years become a central point of contention in Baltic Sea fisheries policy. Member States' approaches to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) recommendations for herring quotas have varied, and the public debate around herring is polarised. At the same time, dialogue between groups of fishers and other stakeholders in different countries has been limited, and not all actors have had a clear picture of each other's perspectives and needs. Within the framework of the Fisheries for the Future project, funded by Ålandsbanken’s Baltic Sea Project, Finnish and Swedish fishers, environmental organisations and researchers gathered last autumn to discuss the status of herring stocks and fishing in the Baltic Sea. Participants gained a better understanding of differences between countries and areas regarding stock status, fisheries management and research. The organisations that took part in the workshop all agree on the need for joint dialogue and wish for the cooperation to continue. “ The project combines research and practical understanding of the herring situation in the Baltic Sea. That makes the initiative particularly important, as the lessons learned can contribute to better decisions and more accurate measures going forward ," notes Crista Hietala, Head of Marketing and Communications at Ålandsbanken and the Baltic Sea Project. During the workshop, a shared understanding emerged of the complexity of the issue, where fishing is one factor but not the only cause of the state of the stocks. The need for a holistic approach was emphasised, in which environmental changes and factors affecting fisheries regulation are considered alongside fishing itself. " Herring stocks are affected by a range of interacting factors – from water quality and salinity to changes in food webs and climate change. At the same time, knowledge about how these factors interact remains limited, which contributes to increased uncertainty in management ," says Aimi Hamberg, Marine Policy Officer at Coalition Clean Baltic. More stable quotas increase predictability The predictability and economic sustainability of fishing can be improved by reducing annual variations in fishing quotas. Multi-annual and more stable quotas would facilitate the planning of fishing operations and better secure the herring's central role in the Baltic Sea ecosystem. The fishing and environmental organisations that participated in the workshop propose that EU member states ask the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to investigate how the quota system can be developed in a more stable and long-term direction, while at the same time ensuring the recovery of sustainable herring stocks. More knowledge about herring spawning areas Workshop participants emphasise that a significantly better knowledge base is needed about herring spawning and nursery areas than what we have today. Updated information on the most important reproduction areas for herring is central to marine spatial planning, for example when siting offshore wind power and other uses of sea areas. Towards ecosystem-based stock assessments During the workshop, it was recommended that herring stock assessments should be based on an ecosystem perspective. ” We believe that stock assessments and advice on fishing quotas need to take greater account of changes in central ecosystem factors, such as predation by seals and cormorants. It is important to expand data collection in order to achieve this ," say representatives of Vi Svenska Fiskare (We Swedish Fishers). As a first step, workshop participants recommend that Finland and Sweden initiate a joint regional project in the Gulf of Bothnia, which can later be extended to other parts of the Baltic Sea. Management areas should be reviewed – dialogue on protected areas needs to continue The workshop highlighted the need to review the division of management areas in the Baltic Sea. Participants propose that the Bothnian Sea and the Bothnian Bay be separated as distinct regulatory areas. This is motivated by genetic differences between the stocks and the fish's migration patterns. In addition, participants consider it important to continue the dialogue on possible protected areas in the Bothnian Sea. Such areas could be introduced as time-limited pilot trials, whose effects are evaluated scientifically. The dialogue on protected areas in the Bothnian Sea has continued between the organisations at a meeting held in February. *** Related documents Read the press release in Swedish and in Finnish . Main outcomes of the workshop in Swedish and Finnish. *** Further information The Fisheries for the Future workshop was a collaborative project between the environmental organisation Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) and WWF Finland, with funding from Ålandsbanken’s Baltic Sea Project. Among the represented fishing organisations were Suomen Ammattikalastajaliitto/Finlands Yrkesfiskarförbund (Finnish Professional Fishers' Association), Österbottens Fiskarförbund (Ostrobothnia Fishers' Association), Vi Svenska Fiskare (We Swedish Fishers), Kustfiskarna Bottenhavet (Bothnian Sea Coastal Fishers), Ålands fiskare (Åland Fishers) and Sportfiskarna (the Swedish Anglers' Association). Fisheries management was represented by the Government of Åland and the County Administrative Board of Stockholm. In addition, experts from the Natural Resources Institute Finland, the University of Turku and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences participated.

EU fisheries at a crossroads: NGOs warn against reform as Baltic collapse exposes failure to enforce existing rules

By CCB • April 30, 2026

Failure to implement EU fisheries law, not gaps in the policy itself, has pushed the Baltic Sea to the brink. Coalition Clean Baltic (CCB) urges immediate action to rebuild Baltic fish populations and restore ecosystems.