The failure of the INC-5.2 talks in Geneva to establish a global plastics treaty isn’t the end of the discussion, NGOs have said, given that the majority of countries agree on the need to cut plastic production.
“No treaty is better than a bad treaty,” commented Ana Rocha, global plastics policy director at the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). “We stand with the ambitious majority who refused to back down and accept a treaty that disrespects the countries that are truly committed to this process and betrays our communities and our planet.
“Once again, negotiations collapsed, derailed by a chaotic and biased process that left even the most engaged countries struggling to be heard. A broken, non-transparent process will never deliver a just outcome. It’s time to fix it – so people and the planet can finally have a fighting chance.”
GAIA pointed to the small group of nations at the INC-5.2 talks that pushed back ‘insisting on consensus to block ambition’, as well as swamping the negotiations with procedural debate.
‘This is not the spirit of multilateralism – it was coercion,’ it noted.
Member States’ responsibility
Elsewhere, Efraim Gomez, WWF‘s global director of global policy impact, said that it is now up to Member States to justify continuing the INC process.
“What we have seen and heard through the last 10 days is not enough,” Gomez commented as the talks drew to a close. “While offering a strong vision, it was evident the ambitious majority were unwilling to use the full range of multilateral tools at their disposal to secure the suite of binding global rules that are essential to a meaningful treaty.
“Our determination to end plastic pollution is unshaken. We will continue our work with governments, communities and partners across regions to address plastic pollution across every stage in the lifecycle. But let’s be clear, the responsibility for the outcome rests squarely with Member States. And we will be there every step of the way to help secure the treaty that people and nature need.”
Long-term impact
Global Environment Facility CEO and chairperson Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, who also attended the talks, said that while it was disappointing that consensus was not reached, he was “heartened to see the committed efforts by ministers and negotiators in pursuit of a new plastic pollution treaty that can underwrite meaningful, positive, long-term impacts.
“The Global Environment Facility is a committed and leading investor in plastic pollution solutions, and we stand ready to support implementation of an intended future treaty. In the meantime, we will continue our ambitious investments to address challenges across the full life cycle of plastic, and will prioritise pollution control throughout our programming as a core priority for our next replenishment period.”
