Stalled Progress: Negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty Continues into 2025

CCB • December 4, 2024

4 December 2024 - The UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting in Busan, South Korea, was supposed to be the fifth and final round of negotiations to produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, by the end of 2024. However, it concluded in early December 2024 without an agreement, leaving countries with an extended deadline and a proposal by the Chair to resume talks at an additional session (INC 5.2) in 2025 to resolve outstanding disagreements. Countries will use the latest version of the Chair’s text as the basis for the continued negotiations.


Plastic production & global warming

At the heart of the discussions was whether the treaty would include limits on plastic production. Over 100 nations, including small island states, African countries, and several European and developing nations like Norway and Mexico, along with the EU, supported a proposal to set a global target for reducing plastic production. Many have emphasized that this is essential to address chemicals of concern. However, for some plastic-producing and oil and gas countries, such a proposal crossed a red line.


The plan of petrochemical states to maintain plastic production growth threatens to derail global climate goals. Every year, the world produces more than 360 million tonnes of new plastic. Plastic production is on track to triple by 2050. Scientists estimate that a 75% reduction in plastic production is needed by 2040 to keep global warming to 1.5°C. Without such cuts, plastic production alone could consume up to 31% of the world’s remaining carbon budget to stay within that critical temperature threshold.


Plastic & health

The economic burden of health impacts is growing. Research by the Endocrine Society revealed that merely four groups of plastic-related chemicals are responsible for health expenses exceeding $400 billion annually in the United States. On a global scale, the UN Environment Programme cautions that failing to address chemical and plastic pollution could result in costs reaching as high as 10% of the world’s GDP.

Microplastics have been found in air, fresh produce, and even human breast milk. In animals, such as fish, these broken-down bits of larger plastics have been linked to lower levels of growth and reproduction, among other issues. Researchers are still working to determine more conclusively whether microplastics pose a direct risk to human health, and if so, at what level.


Finance

Another key area of contention was the financial support for developing country parties. At least 126 countries have called for an independent, dedicated fund to assist with treaty implementation. However, the Chair’s draft weakened this demand, and this is one of the issues will be furthered discussed at INC-5.2 – as well as the proposal of establishment of a polymer production fee, a widely supported mechanism for funding global action.

Science & civil society

“The science is clear: A treaty that protects human health and the environment must address the issues of plastic production and chemicals,” said Bethanie Carney Almroth, Professor at the University of Gothenburg, speaking for the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, a network of over 400 independent experts.


“Coalition Clean Baltic, along with many other environmental organizations, entered INC-5 with the expectation of securing a treaty that would protect human health by regulating chemicals throughout the lifecycle of plastics and reducing production,” commented Eugeniy Lobanov, Leader of the Hazardous Substances Working Area at Coalition Clean Baltic. “However, progress has been slow and did not lead to finalizing a text. We are united with many other organizations and countries in their ambition for a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution across its lifecycle, as set out in the UNEA Resolution 5/14.”


INC-5.1 made some progress toward a treaty to end plastic pollution, producing a streamlined Chair’s Text open for further submissions at INC-5.2. Delegates worked extensively on revisions but the exclusion of civil society and observers from discussions raised significant concerns about transparency and inclusivity.


What´s next?

So in the end, the INC-5.1 did not produce a final treaty, leaving key details, including the dates and modalities of the next session, unresolved. There was no proposal for intersessional work, so informal discussions will continue in an effort to align on the core provisions of the draft treaty, which include:

• Article 3 on products, including the possibility of restricting chemicals in plastic production and ensuring transparency and traceability of chemicals in plastic products;
• Article 6 on supply, including the possibility of setting a reduction goal for plastic production;
• Article 11 on setting a financial mechanism that will be crucial to funding the implementation of the treaty, particularly upstream control measures.


Delegates acknowledged the complexity of addressing plastic pollution, which intersects with broader environmental issues like climate change and biodiversity loss, but expressed hope for continued progress in future sessions.


-END


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


Further Information

  1. UNEP Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution – 5th Session
  2. Daily coverage of INC-5 from IISD: Earth Negotiations Bulletin

COP30 brings ocean and water to the center of climate policy

By CCB • December 5, 2025
In Belém, in the heart of the Amazon, the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference COP30 immediately set the bar high. In his opening speech, Brazilian President Lula da Silva stressed that climate change is no longer a "threat to the future", but a tragedy that the world is already experiencing here and now, and called on countries to accelerate actions rather than limit themselves to promises. However, as is often the case in COP meetings, the political reality turned out to be more complicated than ambitions. Negotiations were difficult: the countries could not agree on a clear and binding plan to phase out fossil fuels. It is important to note that the Global Action Plan has provided a platform for discussing the development of a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. At the same time, COP30 has brought tangible progress in other areas: the countries agreed to triple the amount of adaptation funding for developing countries by 2035, strengthened the forest and ocean agenda, and expanded the range of practical initiatives under the Action Agenda . COP30 consolidated the trend: from "water at the center of the climate crisis" to a holistic ocean agenda closely related to energy, food, biodiversity and sustainable coastal development. From the COP29 Water Declaration to the COP30 Enhanced Ocean Water Program At COP29 in Baku, the Declaration on Water for Climate Action was adopted , with the aim to applying comprehensive approaches to combating the causes and consequences of climate change for water basins, emphasizing also the need to integrate water-related mitigation and adaptation measures into national climate policies, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). COP30 did not reverse this logic, but expanded it towards the ocean and coasts. Both processes "aquatic" and "oceanic" are moving in the same direction: integration of water, coasts and ocean into the climate plans of countries; development of nature-based solutions; strengthening transboundary management of water and marine systems; recognizing adaptation as an equal part of climate policy, rather than an "adjunct" to emissions reduction. Task Force on Oceans and the Blue NDC Challenge The international Task Force on Oceans , led by Brazil and France, was officially presented at the high-level ministerial meeting "From Ambition to Implementation: Delivering on Ocean Commitments" on 18 November, integrating oceans into a global mechanism to accelerate the incorporation of marine solutions into national climate plans. The Blue Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Challenge encourages countries to set ocean protection targets when updating their NDCs. The goal is to transition the Blue NDC Challenge into an Implementation Task Force. Members of the Blue NDC Challenge, currently 17 countries, can adopt a broad set of actions aimed at the protection and sustainable use of the oceans.These measures include the sustainable management, conservation, and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems, supported by tools such as marine spatial planning, integrated coastal zone management, and climate-aligned marine protected areas. Countries are also encouraged to support sustainable and climate-resilient fishing and aquaculture, ensuring ocean health and long-term food security. B razil has set a clear example: its updated NDC includes a separate chapter on the ocean and coastal zones. For the first time, the national climate plan (Plano Clima) until 2035 includes a thematic adaptation plan for these areas. Priorities include the completion of national Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) by 2030 and major programs for the conservation and restoration of mangroves and coral reefs (ProManguezal, ProCoral).

Pathway to Tox-Free Living: Policy and Action

By CCB • November 24, 2025
Leading scientists, consumer advocates and policymakers gathered on November, 18th in Brussels for the conference "From Evidence to Policy: Toward a Tox free Living Environment" . They warned that exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in homes and consumer products represents a silent but severe public health and economic crisis. New findings presented to over 65 participants by the EU Baltic Sea Interreg project NonHazCity3 , LIFE ChemBee and the ToxFree LIFE for All projects as well as revealed widespread contamination of European households by complex chemical mixtures of hormone system disrupting substances (so called endocrine disrupters – EDCs) that contribute to chronic disease and impose enormous health costs. According to the key note speaker Dr. Aleksandra Rutkowska, the home environment is a significant source of exposure to EDCs through indoor air, dust and daily contact with common products. Current research links such exposure to a shocking amount of lifestyle diseases including 22 cancer outcomes, 18 metabolic disorder outcomes and 17 cardiovascular disease outcomes. Scientists also stressed that the crisis spans generations. EDCs trigger epigenetic changes that not only affect today’s population but also future children and even grandchildren. Other effects include reproduction disorders. Over the last decade, 150 million babies were born preterm, and evidence shows that reducing the use of plastics by half could cut the risk of preterm birth by half as well.