US Suddenly Shifts To Stronger Stance On Plastic Pollution Controls During UN Treaty Negotiations
The chances for a stronger international agreement on limits to plastic production may have increased dramatically as the world nears a U.N. deadline for achieving a plastics treaty. The game changer: The United States, one of the world’s largest producers of plastics, has shifted its position to recognize the need to control the entire life cycle of plastics, whereas previously it had advocated for a nonbinding treaty emphasizing mainly recycling and reuse. The U.N. Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution is scheduled to conduct its fifth and possibly final session (dubbed INC-5) this month, when it faces a self-imposed deadline to hammer out an internationally binding agreement, with the treaty language then going to the world’s nations for ratification. It’s possible, however, that if agreement isn’t reached, the process could run into next year.
Since the world began treaty negotiations in 2022, the U.N. meetings have been buffeted by widely diverging viewpoints. Large plastic-producing nations, such as the U.S., China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia, have opposed efforts to limit or control production, whereas a self-named High Ambition Coalition (HAC) of 67 nations has fought to highly regulate it. Among coalition members are coastal and island nations on the receiving end of ocean-carried plastic waste. The U.S. has so far taken no known steps to join the HAC.
Between the INC’s fourth session, which took place in Ottawa in April, and the fifth session slated for Nov. 25-Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, the United States modified its position, acknowledging in August the need to limit production or use of certain polymers. The U.S. also dropped its opposition to setting worldwide targets for pollution reduction. Previously, the U.S. wanted to let each nation set its own limits. As of early November, it still hadn’t announced the details of what its new position would entail, however.
Reaction to the U.S. move was swift and vigorous. The American Chemistry Council, which represents petroleum producers, condemned the policy shift, saying “with today’s shift in position to support plastic production caps and regulate chemicals via the UN Plastics Agreement, the White House has signaled it is willing to betray U.S. manufacturing and the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports.”
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https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/u-s-toughens-stance-on-plastics-production-in-run-up-to-key-treaty-summit/
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