As the INC-5.2 talks in Geneva aimed at delivering a Global Plastics Treaty head into overtime, Greenpeace has said that the inability of countries to reach agreement thus far ‘must be a wake up call for the world’.
Graham Forbes, Greenpeace head of delegation to the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations and global plastics campaign lead for Greenpeace USA, was commenting as the INC-5.2 meeting entered Friday following the publication of a draft text (read more here). However, the fact that many of the restrictions outlined in said text are ‘voluntary’ rather than ‘mandatory’ has left a sour taste in the mouth of many delegates.
‘Bad actors’
“The vast majority of governments want a strong agreement, yet a handful of bad actors were allowed to use process to drive such ambition into the ground,” Forbes commented. “We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. The time for hesitation is over.
“The plastics crisis is accelerating, and the petrochemical industry is determined to bury us for short-term profits. Now is not the time to blink. Now is the time for courage, resolve and perseverance.”
‘Off the mark’
Elsewhere, WWF has said that it is ‘deeply concerning’ as to how far ‘off the mark’ the draft text is, following what was a ‘crippled’ negotiating process.
“Futile efforts to get a treaty that everyone is happy with is amounting to nothing,” commented Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics policy adviser, WWF. “If the last 10 days of negotiations have shown us anything, it’s that efforts to reach a consensus have been exhausted. No treaty will ever be weak enough to satisfy low ambition countries. The ambitious majority must use this opportunity to come together and pursue the essential measures in the treaty.
“The way events have unfolded at this plastics summit – with compromise and capitulations to the lowest common denominator trumping ambition – this cannot be the new normal. The stakes are too high.” Read more here and here.
