Global Plastics Treaty

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?

With the final round of negotiations of the Global Plastics Treaty approaching, this industry landscape overview analyses the dynamic around chemical recycling/recovery over recent years in Europe. Among the overview takeaways is the industry’s acknowledgement that pyrolysis is not ready to help tackle plastic waste and the climate crisis.

The website informs about the process and negotiation rounds of the International Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including timelines, documents, outcomes, and resources.

This paper articulates the economic and financial basis for establishing a cap on global plastics production. The production cap, once adopted as part of the final legally binding agreement, is expected to serve as the linchpin to end plastics pollution.

This report models whether a virgin plastic production reduction target of 40% by 2040 (40×40) could keep the plastics industry within a 1.5°C carbon budget. It outlines the methodology used to predict how the global economy would respond to a 40×40 target, including modeling different scenarios based on business-as-usual (BAU) demand and reduced-demand scenarios. 

Just before INC5, this booklet gives an overview of negotiation priorities and challenges. The global treaty must not condemn our planet and communities to runaway climate change fuelled by unchecked petrochemical expansion, the collapse of ecosystems saturated with plastic pollution, and avoidable disease from exposure to microplastics and plastic chemicals.