BREAKING: Following hours of delay leading up to the closing plenary session of the final scheduled day of negotiations for the #PlasticTreaty, INC Chair announced that 'the work continues' and adjourned the session to reconvene tomorrow [Friday, August 15] at a time 'to be determined.'

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✅ In light of the lack of progress over the past nine days, frontline communities mobilized alongside allies before the third plenary began, in front of dozens of journalists with a clear and loud message: Use your power, use your voice to deliver a strong Plastics Treaty. 

✅ During the plenary, a diverse group of countries expressed their disappointment in the Chair’s draft text. It is worth noting that more than 80 high-ambition countries, starting with Colombia,  made clear that the Chair's text is unacceptable as the basis of negotiations because it lacks key provisions for a strong treaty. 

✅ During an action at the beginning of the penultimate day of negotiations, IPEN and CSO advocates delivered a clear message to delegates: our health is in your hands; protect our health, ban toxic plastic chemicals. 

✅ Late in the evening, the Justice-aligned groups hosted a press conference, emphasizing how the negotiations are failing groups most impacted by the injustices and harm caused by plastic production and pollution.

✖ Just one hour before the third plenary session began, the Chair presented a draft text proposal, which was rejected by many Member States. The proposal lacks the most important provisions that ambitious countries, Indigenous Peoples, frontline communities, scientists and civil society groups have been demanding since the beginning of this process. There is no mention of the words ‘chemicals’ or ‘reuse systems,’ no inclusion of production reduction measures, and weak language on human health, just transition and human rights. Moreover, the proposal lacks language that would allow countries to vote when consensus cannot be reached during the Conference of the Parties, which can undermine the future progress of the implementation phase. In short, the draft treaty text falls short of the UNEA Resolution 5/14. 

✖ In plenary, despite an overwhelming number of countries strongly opposing his new text, the Chair continued to propose a meeting with Head Delegations to discuss his new proposal. Finally, after much opposition on the proposed order of work, countries agreed to move to regional consultations tonight and potentially a Heads-of-Delegation-plus-one meeting tomorrow to discuss both the new and previous proposals.

✖ The need to move beyond consensus as a decision-making mechanism continues to be the elephant in the room as countries seem stuck in the negotiations.

Today, the award of Champion of the Day goes to the 80+ countries that rejected the Chair’s draft text proposal and continue to fight for a treaty that ensures a just transition, safeguards health and protects our planet from accelerating plastic production. Many called the text ‘unacceptable’.

In response to the disappointing new draft, more than twenty rights-holders groups released statements, calling it “a blatant backsliding that betrays the UNEA 5/14 mandate” (GAIA/BFFP Africa), “a dangerous step backwards” (Azul), as well as “a political failure to rise to the moment” (Environmental Investigation Agency).

The Center for Coalfield Justice denounced the draft treaty as “an embarrassing, brazen betrayal of communities”, while the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics (IIPFP) called it a “hopeless surrender to the fossil fuel industry”,  pointing out that the draft fails to address human rights, including Indigenous Rights, and that it tokenizes and silences Indigenous Peoples.

Just minutes after the INC Chair released the new draft proposal of the treaty text—one which lacks the most important provisions to effectively address plastic pollution—frontline communities held an action right outside of the plenary room. This time, people raised their voices loud and clear and called on ambitious countries to 'use their power, use their voice, to end plastic pollution for communities, our planet and future generations’. 

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✅ Several side events were held to celebrate International Youth Day, featuring Indigenous youth, waste pickers, and environmentalists showcasing reuse and youth-led solutions. Panama’s head of delegation gave a compelling speech about how young people worldwide are on the frontlines leading civil society movements. 

✅ Early in the morning, dozens of observers organized a silent protest in the Palais des Nations to welcome government Ministers arriving for the negotiations. A diverse group of rightsholders held up signs calling for countries to be courageous and to stop hiding behind the guise of consensus.

✅ In a press conference, the Scientists’ Coalition assured that plastic pollution harms humans and the environment across the full life cycle. “We already know enough today to justify acting with urgency. Disregarding the science will only exacerbate the impacts of plastics on health and the environment,” said the Coalition. 

✅ During discussions regarding production reduction in Article 6, we heard high-ambition countries speaking up, despite ongoing attempts from low-ambition countries to use consensus as a shield to avoid an effective treaty. One delegation in particular reminded us that it is “not appropriate for one party to suggest a veto on any article.”

✖ Time is ticking, and countries have yet to make significant progress to be on track to deliver a strong Plastics Treaty by the end of the week. Based on the report backs made in contact groups, many informal meetings continue to revolve around general discussions and country positioning rather than actual text negotiations, which is creating frustrations among delegations. With the closing plenary scheduled in less than 50 hours, many countries have reiterated that we are at a breaking point. 

✖ The INC Chair, Luis Vayas, and INC Secretary, Jyoti Mathur-Filipp, held a meeting with approximately 300 observers in a room that was too small for that number of people. Together they spoke for just 10 minutes and did not stay for questions. The only noticeable comment, which was mentioned twice by the INC Secretary, was that “on the 15th, when we wake up, we will be celebrating.” The Secretary seemed optimistic that 1) we will not stay up all night on Thursday, and 2) we will have reasons to celebrate on Friday. Let’s hope she is right.

✖ In the discussions around Article 6, which addresses plastic production reduction, we continued to hear the same low-ambition arguments that try to keep the negotiations focused on waste management. 

✖ Plastic treaty negotiators—even the low-ambition delegates—are all breathing microplastics. After sampling outdoor and indoor spaces such as cafés, public transportation and shops in Geneva, a new Greenpeace study confirmed the presence of airborne microplastics—including polyester, nylon, polyethylene, vinyl copolymers, and cellulose acetate, which are typically found in clothing, packaging, and furnishings. Hopefully, this study can serve as a reminder of the urgency of a Plastics Treaty fit for purpose.

International Youth Day fell right during the negotiations in Geneva and youth groups made their voices heard.

The Youth Plastic Action Network, WWF and Global Youth Voices held a presentation and panel discussion entitled ‘Youth for a Plastic-free Future’ where they shared stories of youth-led community initiatives and highlighted how plastic pollution is impacting their communities. These changemakers shined a light on solutions, including reuse. They highlighted leading studies showing recycling is not enough, and they pushed for youth to be involved at every stage: “let us work together to support youth-led solutions, and build a more just, peaceful and sustainable world, from the ground up,” said the 14-year-old youngest delegate. Kicking off the start of International Youth Day, groups collected pictures from people around the world under the motto “show us how the Plastic Crisis is reaching your doorstep” and placed the photos into a large mosaic of a heart engulfed in plastic.

To ensure that countries can take ambitious measures without being vetoed by a handful of low-ambition governments, delegates must be able to make decisions on substantial issues through a majority vote when consensus among all parties cannot be reached.

To ensure we can achieve an ambitious treaty, today dozens of Break Free From Plastic members and allies from around the world welcomed country ministers and delegates this morning in the Palais des Nations, with a unified message:

“Stop hiding behind consensus! Show courage for future generations!”

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✅ At least 120 countries now support a stand-alone article on health. This would simplify involving ministries responsible for health and the broader health sector during implementation. Some countries expressed the need to reflect health throughout the treaty text (particularly Articles 3, 5, and 6) to address chemicals of concern, transparency on additives and polymer types, and related health risks.

✅ South Africa and the Gambia, on behalf of the African Group of Negotiators, uploaded an intervention to “reaffirm our strong commitment to a just transition that will facilitate the participation of workers under informal and cooperative settings, including waste pickers.” These proposed amendments would “ensure meaningful protections and improvements in the livelihoods of over 40 million waste pickers and their families across the globe.”

✅ A press briefing by Climate Home News brought together civil society and Panama delegate Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez to discuss the implications of a weak or strong plastics treaty on climate. 

✅ U.S. advocates convened a press conference about the power of Black voices at INC-5.2 and beyond, noting that Black communities in the U.S. remain deeply impacted stakeholders in global environmental policy, yet are not formally recognized within the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) Major Groups and Other Stakeholders (MGoS) structure.

✖ In discussions on Article 19 related to human health, some low ambition countries continue to oppose a stand-alone health article. While these countries argue that these considerations are already covered by the World Health Organization (WHO), in reality, protecting human health from the impacts of plastic will require coordination across different multilateral institutions, along with others at the international and national levels.

✖ The proposed text for Article 8 on plastic waste management remains weak. Some countries argue that the treaty should exclude trade provisions, citing World Trade Organization rules and existing multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs).  However, trade provisions are vital to close loopholes that let high-income countries misdeclare shipments, evade prior informed consent (PIC) rules, and facilitate illegal waste trade. The treaty should extend PIC and transparency requirements to all plastic waste categories, ensuring comprehensive oversight and preventing regulatory evasion.  

✖ Despite calls during the second plenary on Saturday to speed up negotiations, discussions related to financial mechanisms moved slowly today. Most of the session focused on discussing edits to a footnote and other procedural issues, instead of textual negotiations. Many countries urged starting work on Article 12—which covers capacity building, technical assistance, technology transfer, and international cooperation.

Today, Black Women for Wellness, The Descendants Project, and Break Free from Plastic convened a press conference together with leaders from Breathe Free Detroit, Port Arthur Community Action Network, Beyond Petrochemicals, and EarthDay.org, to elevate Black voices in the U.S. during INC-5.2.

Speakers noted that Black communities in the U.S. are suffering at every stage of the life cycle of plastic pollution—including at the fencelines of fossil fuel extraction, plastic production, and incineration—yet Black voices have been grossly excluded from representation and consultation during the Plastics Treaty negotiations.

The Thinker’s Burden is a 6-meter-tall reimagining of Rodin’s iconic sculpture, created by Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong with SLS Illusions for the INC 5.2 Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. In this version, The Thinker cradles a baby, sits upon Mother Earth, and is entwined in a strand of DNA: a striking symbol of the mounting health and environmental threats from an unregulated plastic industry. Crafted from papier-mâché, wood, steel, and living vines, the work will be slowly engulfed by a wave of plastic waste over the course of the negotiations—a living metaphor for the toxic legacy we risk leaving to future generations.

Today was the 6th day of the #PlasticsTreaty negotiations.
The agenda focused on closed-door meetings without observers' participation. We will resume our daily recaps tomorrow.

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✅ To commemorate International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, the International Indigenous Peoples Forum (IIPFP) invited delegates to an event calling for efforts to ensure Indigenous Peoples' rights are respected and centered in the global treaty-making processes. 

✅ More than 200 observers demonstrated collective power right at the start of plenary, by displaying signs in multiple languages as country delegates were walking in, demanding governments to “fix the process, keep your promise and finalize a meaningful treaty to end plastic pollution”.

✅ During today’s plenary, delegations such as Chile, Colombia, Grenada, Kenya, Malaysia, Norway, Palau, Peru, Tuvalu and the European Union expressed concern about the slow pace of the negotiations. Other countries, such as Ethiopia, Malaysia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom stated that in order to move forward more effectively, some changes need to be made to the dynamics of the negotiations.

✅ Panama had a powerful intervention reminding countries that without concrete production reduction measures, the treaty “will be built on sand”. The moment provoked an extended round of applause from other delegations.   

✅ Uruguay, in particular, said that consensus cannot be used “as a justification for us not to achieve our objectives”. 

✅ During the plenary, Fiji gave us a name drop. While referring to the lack of agreement in the texts—which is usually evident when adding words and sentences between brackets—the Fiji delegate said: “to break free from plastic, we must break free from brackets. Go faster”.

✅ Later inside the negotiation rooms, when discussing the treaty preamble, ambitious countries recognized that current levels of plastic production are unsustainable. 

✅ In other discussions, ambitious countries highlighted the importance of waste trade measures, remarking that addressing the illegal trade of plastic waste is critical for developing countries, as they help address environmental violations and create protections against serious risks to human and environmental health.

✖ The second plenary lacked observer participation and left it clear that there has been little progress inside the negotiation rooms. Even the Chair recognized that progress towards finalizing a treaty text has been slow. 

✖ During the plenary session, we heard calls from countries such as Russia, Kuwait, and Kazakhstan to prioritize consensus as a decision-making mechanism, which could undermine the ambition and strength of the treaty.

✖ A new assembled text was dropped early in the day. The Global Strategic Communications Council counted 1488 sets of brackets (aka non-agreed text). However, countries are still using the Chair’s text from December 2024 as the main basis of negotiations. 

✖ It was made clear that more time is needed to work on Article 6, which addresses plastic production. No agreement has yet been made on this article, with some low-ambition countries calling for the article to be removed entirely.

✖ Despite calls to speed up the negotiation process in plenary, low-ambition countries continue to try to limit the treaty’s scope to exclude plastic production. Attempts have been made to introduce new paragraphs focused solely on waste management and plastic production has been described as “not inherently polluting”. 

✖ During plenary, some of these same countries framed themselves as ‘under scrutiny’, despite being some of the top plastic producing countries who have shown tactics to dilute urgency and delay decisions throughout this process. 

✖ During negotiations on health measures, some low-ambition countries sought to remove references to human health, arguing it falls outside the treaty’s mandate and calling for its entire removal. They resisted recognizing plastic as a serious health threat, proposing instead to refer to it as a “potential impact” on human health, despite growing scientific evidence.

On Saturday morning, as delegates arrived for the second plenary session, observers made a clear call to governments: “fix the process, keep your promise and finalise a meaningful treaty to end plastic pollution”. The powerful and somber mobilization signaled strong pressure by civil society and allies, urging delegates to unlock negotiations and uphold ambitious commitments. Observers stood at the entrance holding signs with the message “fix the process” in multiple languages, making their call impossible to ignore.

The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics (IIPFP) invited delegates and members of the media to an event with the Chair of the INC to commemorate International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, where representatives of Indigenous Peoples from around the world reinforced the painful history of their exclusion from these international policymaking processes. Heni Unwin—member of Te Atihaunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Rongomaiwahine—noted that her ancestors were literally turned away at the door of this building a century ago when it was the League of Nations. While Indigenous Peoples are now inside the Plastics Treaty negotiations, they are here only as observers—the same status as non-governmental organizations and industry representatives—rather than receiving due recognition as the leaders of nations. Indigenous Peoples are distinctive rights holders, and their leadership must be respected and centered in the global treaty-making processes.

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✅ During discussions on capacity building, a group of countries introduced language—for the first time in the treaty text—that developed countries should promote and facilitate research, innovation, investment, and transfer of technology on a grant basis, with preference given to developing countries. One country also proposed returning to conversations about existing asymmetries in technical capacities and access. 

✅ There was a proposal to exclude chemical recycling from environmentally safe technologies for processing and recycling plastic.

✅ One country proposed including in the preamble of the treaty both “progressive development” and the principle of non-regression in environmental protection, which would ensure that countries maintain and build on previous efforts, rather than allowing setbacks in ambition and/or implementation. 

✅ Multiple countries supported a mandatory obligation to develop and implement binding national action plans. 

✅ Several justice-aligned rightsholder groups issued joint statements calling for a just transition. 

✅ Likewise, several sectors of civil society issued a statement calling for countries to fix the negotiations process and keep their promises to ensure an effective treaty that can address the plastic pollution crisis. 

✅ Ecuador issued a Conference Room Paper on behalf of Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay, aimed at strengthening the language on human rights in the Chair’s text. This proposal emphasizes the significant risks that plastic pollution poses to vulnerable groups and highlights the need for businesses to address their impacts on human rights.

✖ We continue to see delaying tactics by low-ambition countries. For example, they still claim they do not know basic definitions such as ‘plastic’, ‘microplastics’, ‘life cycle’, or ‘sources’. They have continued raising procedural questions even after requests were made to focus on substantive discussions in the text, and they continue to question the scope of the treaty as if it was not clear from the UNEA 5/14 resolution that it should address the full life cycle of plastics.

✖ The text emerging on financial mechanisms continues to leave the door open to false solutions, including the so-called ‘blended and innovative financing’, a series of market-based approaches designed to elicit private contributions through harmful policies such as so-called ‘chemical recycling’, plastic credits, and other forms of greenwashing.

✖ Several countries discussing plastic waste and plastic leakages in the environment could not agree on a pathway forward and spent the majority of the time debating the process.

Indigenous Peoples, waste pickers, and unionized workers demonstrated deep ties of solidarity at the Affected Groups Aligned for Justice press conference:

• Vi Waghiyi (Alaska Community Action on Toxics) and Aakaluk Adrienne Blatchford (Indigenous Environmental Network) revealed shocking health violations against Indigenous Peoples of Alaska from microplastic pollution.
•  Soledad Mella Vidal (International Alliance of Waste Pickers) and Repon Chowdhury (International Trade Union Confederation) emphasized the need for a strong and inclusive just transition article in the operative portion of the Plastics Treaty that addresses the transboundary nature of plastic waste.
• Cheyenne Rendon (International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics & Society of Native Nations) expressed the need for the Plastics Treaty to uphold the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples in accordance with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and ILO Convention 169.

Four days into the final Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, we are not on track to deliver a treaty that will protect people and nature. The voices of observers came together, including waste pickers, frontline communities, scientists, healthcare professionals, children and youth, women, businesses, and non-governmental organisations worldwide, calling on governments to step up, fix the process, keep their promise, and finalise a meaningful treaty to end plastic pollution.

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✅ Today, countries moved to negotiating specific elements of the treaty text. In discussions on waste management and leakage,  we observed members converging on an obligation for countries to commit go further than just cleaning up plastic pollution and include  ‘remediation’ of plastic pollution – a broader term that includes removal, restoration and rehabilitation of protected environments. 

✅ More than 120 countries support a proposal from Brazil to have a dedicated article on health in the treaty. In the negotiation room, countries mentioned the importance of making sure vulnerable communities, Indigenous peoples, and wastepickers views are included. 

✅ We also heard diverse voices supporting measures for microplastics, with one delegation stating  “this article is absolutely relevant and necessary based on the evidence”. 

✅ Georgia, Peru, Rwanda, Switzerland and Thailand submitted a proposal for an initial and non-exhaustive list of plastic products that could be considered for elimination, helping add specificity to negotiations and build momentum towards enforceable global rules. 

✅ UK and Chile together with 24 countries  presented a proposal on product design which aims to support the improvement of reuse systems, minimize leaks, improve safety, etc. The proposal is gaining support among numerous countries, who spoke during the negotiations about the need for non-toxic reuse, and recognized the importance of Indigenous knowledge, and local production and consumption systems.

✅ In response to the blockers on Article 6 (plastic production), Panama quietly resubmitted their proposal from INC-5.1 on behalf of 89 countries, calling for binding global targets to reduce production of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels.

✅ Frontline groups representing Indigenous Peoples, waste pickers, and unionized workers across the plastics value chain demanded in a media statement a binding plastics treaty that centers justice, rights, and real solutions.

✅ The UN Women’s Major Group hosted a casual lunchbreak for women delegates, with speakers sharing a message of hope around the need to end plastic pollution–including toxics and microplastics–for the sake of women and girls around the world.

✅ Over 48 million health professionals from all over the globe, including the World Medical Association and the International Council of Nurses, called on world leaders to end plastic pollution—pushing for a just, equitable, and health-centered Global Plastics Treaty.

✖  A record 234 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered for this round of plastics treaty negotiations, according to an analysis by Center for International Environmental Law. These lobbyists outnumber the combined delegations of all 27 European Union countries and the European Commission, with major companies like Dow and ExxonMobil heavily represented.

✖  The group focused on capacity building and finance spent 2 of their 3 hours on how to organise themselves before they were able to finally move to textual negotiations. 

✖ Some low-ambition countries argued against a health focused article, suggesting it be covered by the World Health Organization instead.  One delegation denied scientific evidence saying that the impacts of plastics on health are still at the “elementary stage”.

✖ The Chair has moved discussions to informal settings with over 100 seats for governments, yet observers were excluded. The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) raised concerns in a letter to the Chair, emphasizing that these arrangements should not compromise transparency, integrity, or prevent the participation of essential scientists and experts in the negotiations.

234 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists are registered to attend INC-5.2, the highest at any negotiation for the plastics treaty so far, and more than the previous high of 221 lobbyists identified at INC-5.1, according to a new Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) analysis.

•  Fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists outnumber the diplomatic delegations of all 27 EU countries and the European Commission delegation combined (233). 
• Lobbyists secured places in the national delegations of Egypt (6), Kazakhstan (4), China (3), Iran (3), Chile (2), and the Dominican Republic (1), including lobbyists from Dow (7), the American Chemistry Council (7), and ExxonMobil (6). 
• Note that these estimates are likely conservative/low due to relying on delegate self-disclosure of industry connections.

To call attention to industry's presence inside the negotiations, Greenpeace activists painted Geneva’s streets black to create a symbol trail of oil and demand the UN kicks out fossil fuel lobbyists. Activists created a symbolic trail of black oil and held massive banners above the entrance to the Palais des Nations to call out the undue influence of the fossil fuel industry in the negotiations.

Photo credit: Greenpeace

Observers are facing barriers to meaningfully participate in the negotiations. The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) submitted a letter to the INC Chair and Bureau exposing its concerns and highlighting that arrangement for informal meetings should not compromise the transparency or integrity of the process, neither should prevent the participation of scientists and experts. IPEN is urging immediate action to ensure that informal meetings remain open, or that any decision to close such meetings is clearly justified, narrowly interpreted, and communicated transparently.

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✅ During discussions on plastic products, ambitious voices supported regulating toxic chemicals using the best available science, transparency measures, and global lists of chemicals and targets. A delegation later urged those opposing global regulations to step aside and not block the countries willing to deal with this global problem.

✅ A proposal led by Colombia and Perú, ensuring that future Conferences of the Parties (COP) can adopt decisions through voting if consensus cannot be reached, has gained support from 118 countries.

✅ A proposal prepared by Canada highlights the disproportionate burden Indigenous Peoples face from plastic pollution and criticizes the treaty text for not appropriately reflecting their rights, knowledge, and participation. 45 delegations support the proposal, although the EU is yet to endorse it. We hope to see Canada defending this position inside the negotiation rooms.

✅ A Switzerland/Mexico proposal supporting global control measures for plastic products and chemicals in products has the support of at least 130 countries. No other proposal has gained such significant support. 

✅ When discussing financial mechanisms, a mix of countries called for equity measures financed by developed country parties to support developing countries in implementation efforts. Other delegations reiterated the need for a robust and transparent review of the financial mechanisms for implementation, and proposed a new dedicated fund to be established by the second COP.

✅ During discussions related to plastic waste management, some delegations advocated for removing from the text so-called ‘energy recovery’ technologies –  a false solution that generates highly toxic substances and heavy metals, and more emissions than plastic itself.

✖ As if in an endless loop, a few low-ambition countries continue to argue that the regulation of toxic chemicals is outside of the treaty scope. 

✖  Saudi Arabia (on behalf of the  Arab Group) submitted a proposal outlining their position on the Conference of the Parties (COPs) that will follow the agreement on a Global Plastics Treaty. In this submission, it is proposed that all decisions at COPs are made by consensus, which could significantly slow processes, protect the interests of obstructionists, and lead to weakened outcomes. 

✖  Later in the evening, during the contact group negotiations, one delegation went as far as to suggest that participation of observers in the implementation process should also be decided by consensus, which would allow any country to exclude observers from the process. 

✖ Malaysia,  Kazakhstan, and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of the Arab Group, reaffirmed their low-ambition position on  Article 6, which aims to regulate plastic production, by submitting formal proposals for the article to be struck in its entirety.

✖ Regarding financial mechanisms for treaty implementation, countries still cannot agree on the best way to ensure that the polluters are also paying for the impacts of plastic pollution.  

✖ Also, in financial mechanisms, there is a lack of attention on the issue of large subsidies given to the fossil fuels, petrochemical, and plastic industries, which are fueling the plastic crisis. 

✖ One of the contact groups was delayed by an extended conversation about how to proceed, with one delegation calling it procedural purgatory.

Today, it has become clear which delegations are willing to ensure countries can effectively make decisions during the implementation of the treaty and which ones just want to give veto power to low-ambition, plastic-producing countries.

At the low end of the scale, we have Saudi Arabia, which led a proposal calling for decisions on the implementation of the treaty (during the Conference of the Parties) to be made only by consensus, thereby giving any country veto power to block any ambitious measure.

Thankfully, high-ambition countries are rising to the occasion. Colombia and Perú led a proposal to allow countries to make decisions on substantial issues by majority vote when consensus fails, a rule with precedent in many multilateral environmental agreements.

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✅ CSOs organized by Greenpeace Switzerland, Gallifrey Foundation, and Break Free From Plastic brought together hundreds of people and organizations from around the world on Monday to demand an ambitious and legally binding treaty.

✅ The opening plenary started with a concert played on two traditional wooden alphorns. Observers were invited to speak and made strong calls for a plastics treaty that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics. Waste pickers demanded mandatory Just Transition measures. The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Plastics asked for a treaty that ensures the equitable and ethical participation of Indigenous Peoples and ancestral knowledge holders.

✅ Also in plenary, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Scientists’ Coalition echoed calls for a treaty that addresses the full plastic life cycle. The Commissioner also spoke to the need for a treaty that advances human rights, including the right to health, a healthy environment, and a just transition for those most impacted by plastic.

✅ The Break Free From Plastic movement and U.S. Environmental Justice Delegation spoke to how these negotiations have been captured by the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries, and reminded governments that when decisions cannot be reached by consensus, countries must have the ability to vote to ensure that deadlocks do not derail progress.

✖ In the opening plenary, apart from Saudi Arabia and Iran pushing back on production reduction measures, the majority of time was spent on procedural matters, such as scheduling the Contact Groups for negotiations.

✖ Even on Day 1, lack of access was already noticeable. Negotiation rooms have limited seats for observers, forcing most CSOs to watch the discussions via livestream in overflow rooms. 

✖ In a déjà vu to other INCs, some low-ambition countries wanted to narrow the scope of the treaty and continued to ignore that the 2022 UNEA 5/14 resolution mandates a treaty that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics. 

✖ Some spoiler countries wanted to narrow definitions and remove mentions of health and climate, ignoring that, without science-based definitions, the treaty will be unable to effectively protect human health and the environment.

✖ Furthermore, one delegation went so far as to suggest that the agreement isn’t about ‘plastics’. The assertion drew laughter from the overflow room, though the speaker wasn’t joking.

✖ Several negotiators supported a right for countries to entirely opt out of all future amendments to the treaty’s annexes. This would effectively prevent the treaty from updating controls on plastic products, chemicals, and plastic production as pollution worsens and science improves.

✖ Low ambition was felt in other discussions, as well, specifically when talking about leakages. Some countries tried to water down the text—either by denying that plastic production causes leakages of harmful chemicals, or even by suggesting deleting the article entirely.

✖ During the UNEP Opening Press Conference, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment stated that “contrary to some media reports, this is no call for a production cap”, signaling a lack of ambition at the beginning of negotiations.

The day before the start of the negotiations, civil society rallied together outside the Palais des Nations with a clear call: ‘Cut Plastic Production. Don’t Fuel Our Destruction. Strong Treaty Now’. The mobilization brought together hundreds of civil society organisations and members of the global public who wore red, yellow, and orange to symbolise the urgency of the crisis and the dangers posed by the unchecked production of plastic. 

On Day 1, rightsholders made their voices heard through different creative actions both outside and inside the negotiations. Outside the Palais des Nations stands ‘The Thinker’s Burden’, a sculpture depicting how this treaty affects both Mother Earth and future generations, a soap distribution encouraging delegates to vote for a #CleanPlasticsTreaty, and an installation displaying one million collected cigarette butts. Inside the plenary, observers braved the Geneva heat in woolen, brain-shaped hats decorated with plastic to help shine a light on the fact that even our brains are polluted by plastic.

As negotiations continued today at INC-5.2, low-ambition countries once again attempted to drag the treaty backward—arguing that this treaty isn’t about plastics, but rather only about plastic waste management. Déjà vu? We’re back to the same tired debates from INC-4 in Ottawa, as well as ignoring the 2022 agreements from UNEA 5.2 in Nairobi, when the world agreed to tackle plastic pollution across its entire lifecycle (UNEA resolution 5/14).

As one high-ambition country put it in today’s discussions:

“If this agreement is not about plastic, what is it about then?”  

We don’t need a time machine pulling us backward. We need a strong, future-looking treaty that addresses the root of this crisis: fossil fuel production and the production of plastics. The treaty’s power lies in its scope and comprehensive approach to prevent harm, hold polluters accountable, and protect the planet, our health, and future generations.