By Sadaf Sundas Riaz ( INC -5 Session Desk SCN )
Ahead of INC-5, Panel Updates on State of Play in Plastic Treaty Talks
The International Institute for Sustainable Development’s (IISD) Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) and Geneva Environment Network convened an online event to preview the upcoming fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) to develop an international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment. Speakers provided updates on the negotiations, highlighting priorities and key challenges for ongoing efforts to forge convergence.
INC-5 is scheduled to convene from 25 November to 1 December 2024 in Busan, Republic of Korea.
Ecuador’s Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso, Chair, Plastic Pollution INC, said INC-4 took two important decisions: establishing an open-ended legal drafting group; and initiating formal intersessional work to restart textual negotiations, which resulted in a compiled text as the outcome. On the road to INC-5, he called attention to his proposal to work with heads of delegations and experts to identify specific elements that will facilitate the talks towards an effective ILBI with credible rules and effective implementation mechanisms.
Vayas indicated that meetings with heads of delegations, where discussions were held on the basis of a non-paper, provided an opportunity to seek common understanding and identify areas for negotiation in Busan. He said a scenario note with the organization of work will be released in October, stressing the need to formalize formal and informal intersessional work in a “constructive, efficient, and effective way.”
David Azoulay, Director of the Geneva Office and of the Environmental Health Program, Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), highlighted production controls as the enablers of all measures to be adopted in the future treaty. Without effective measures and clear obligations to limit the current production rate and expected growth, he said the treaty “will fail to make a dent in our plastic crisis.”
Azoulay called for establishing:
• Effective measures to globally phase out problematic and toxic chemicals to prevent the “circularity of harm”;
• A functional, feasible, and innovative funding mechanism to support a just transition to an economy that respects human health and human rights, underscoring that incentives and voluntary approaches alone are insufficient for mobilizing adequate financial resources; and
• A global playing field, while allowing flexibility to take national circumstances into account.
Bethanie Carney Almroth, Professor at Gothenburg University and Member of the Steering Committee of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty, underscored the role of science in understanding the scale of the plastics problem – from resource extraction and production of monomers and polymers, to product manufacturing, transportation, trade, consumption, and waste management. She emphasized the harm plastic pollution and emissions cause to the environment, the climate, human health, human rights, and the economy, and called for focus on the plastics’ entire life cycle.
Among key elements to be include in the treaty, she emphasized:
• Ambitious, legally binding global and national reduction targets, including incentives to reduce production;
• Globally mandated regulatory provisions for hazardous chemicals found in plastics;
• Global and national phase-out of non-essential use of plastic chemicals, polymers, and products;
• Transparency criteria, with mandatory monitoring and reporting obligations throughout the entire supply chain;
• Inclusion of micro- and nano-plastics; and
• A scientific body to be mandated by the treaty, to ensure targets “remain scientifically informed and adaptive over time.”
R…
