UN talks struggle for breakthrough on plastics treaty as deadline looms

29/11/2024 18:05

        The chairman of talks aiming for an international treaty to rein in pollution from plastics issued a document on Friday outlining measures that could furnish the basis of a pact, in an attempt to spur discussions as a Dec. 1 deadline approaches.
        
        South Korea is hosting delegates from about 175 countries at the fifth and final meeting of the U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) to agree globally binding rules on plastics, but this week's talks had moved at glacial pace.
        
        The document, issued by committee chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso and viewed by Reuters, featured ideas such as a global list of plastic products to be managed and a financial mechanism to help fund developing countries act on the treaty.
        
        "The high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution ... represent a serious environmental and human health problem," the document said.
        
        It mentioned, but did not confirm, some of the most divisive tasks, such as whether the treaty will set a global target to cut output of primary plastic polymers or skip it altogether, and left undecided how rich nations would contribute to a fund.