Why did the plastic pollution talks in South Korea fail to yield a treaty?

In Focus by The Hindu

The fifth meeting of the UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) has ended without delivering a legally binding treaty to address global plastic pollution. The talks, which began in March 2022, were supposed to have produced a treaty by the end of 2024 but they haven’t.

The discussions saw a sharp divide between two camps – a large coalition of about 100 countries that wanted caps on plastic production, and a smaller set of oil-producing nations that wanted to focus only on plastic waste management. With the two camps unable to reach a compromise, the conference concluded on December 1 with an agreement to meet again at a later date. In the meantime, the world remains on track to keep producing 20 million metric tonnes of plastic waste every year, and triple plastic production by 2050.

So, what are the chances of a plastics treaty happening any time soon? What is the link between the climate change talks, the fossil fuel industry, and the plastics crisis? And why can’t the majority of countries that are serious about combating plastic pollution just go ahead without the small minority that are resisting an effective treaty?

Guest: Satyarupa Shekhar, a public policy advocate who works on urban governance, data justice, and plastics pollution.

Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu.

Edited by Jude Francis Weston