Global Plastics Treaty

This initiative supports the achievement of an ambitious, effective, and fair treaty that strengthens the international cooperation needed to end plastic pollution.

This short animated video shows the obstacles preventing a meaningful plastics treaty and how to overcome them.

This report exposes how some of the world’s largest petrochemicalcompanies are expanding production while flooding the treaty negotiationswith hundreds of lobbyists in an effort to weaken ambition and shiftattention onto false solutions like chemical recycling.

The report examines how industries influence negotiations and the kinds of interference in the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations to date. It also offers specific recommendations to safeguard the negotiations, the future Conference of the Parties, and the implementation of the future treaty.

As INC-5.2 approaches, negotiators have several decisive choices to make. This briefing seeks to highlight some of them: key elements for a deal, options for flexibility, amending annexes, voting, and future negotiation processes.

The Scientists' Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty is an international network of diverse, independent scientific and technical experts seeking to contribute with summaries and interpretations of scientific knowledge to decision makers and the public involved in the negotiations towards a global agreement to end plastic pollution.

The oil, gas, and petrochemical industry wields substantial power in both the climate and plastics treaty negotiations, and has used that power to stymie progress in both. Rather than repeat the failures of the climate negotiations, plastics negotiators should seek to create a “plastics club” for ambitious action. 

The world is gearing up for the final meeting in Busan, where nations will aim to agree on a legally binding text to combat plastic pollution, including marine environment. The pressing question remains: will the final text be robust, actionable, and financially sustainable enough to lead to a world free from plastic pollution?