The first steps have been taken towards a new UN plastic treaty

CCB • December 12, 2022

Bernardo Roca-Rey, Peru; INC Chair Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Peru; Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, Executive Secretary, INC Secretariat; and Yesica Fonseca, Peru.
Photo credit: Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

The first session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-1) have concluded on 2 December in Punta del Este, Uruguay after a week-long negotiations - with representatives of more than 150 countries, including countries of the Baltic Sea region, as well as many NGOs, science groups, and industries took part in the negotiations. The new instrument is expected to be the biggest environmental treaty since the Paris agreement on climate with the aim to end plastic pollution of the environment, including sea life, and human health.


Meeting for the first time, the INC was prepared to address organizational as well as substantive matters. However, from the very start, delegates delved into the form and substance of the future treaty. While these substantive discussions occupied most of the week’s agenda, a few significant and contentious procedural and organizational matters, including the election of the bureau and voting procedures, were also in the foreground.


There is already a division among the governments on how to approach the plastic problem. Some countries, including the EU are in favor of global bans on certain plastics, while other countries are advocating for a model, when countries shall act based on their national plans.


At its conclusion, the Committee requested the INC Secretariat to prepare a document, ahead of INC-2, which would outline options for elements of the instrument, based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics, including the objective, substantive provisions including core obligations, control measures, and voluntary approaches, implementation measures, and means of implementation, and including both legally binding and voluntary measures.

One of the clear outcomes after the first session is that many countries see a strong linkage between plastic pollution and health issues. The health topic was referred by more than 60 countries in their interventions, which hopefully, will make this treaty to focus not only on environment, but also on health - commented Eugeniy Lobanov, CCB Hazardous Substances Working Area Leader, and participant of INC 1 in Uruguay - It is also important that the topic of toxic substances in plastics has got a high profile during the negotiations, which is definitely one of the key issues, which is needed to be addressed to solve the plastic crisis”.


Coalition Clean Baltic is committed to contribute to further preparations of the new plastics treaty, and will continue to work along with its members and partners to make the Baltic sea region free from plastic pollution.  


FURTHER INFORMATION:



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

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).
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.