Plastic pollution treaty talks open with 'global crisis' warning
Geneva (AFP) – The 184 countries gathering to forge a landmark treaty on combating plastic pollution were told Tuesday they must find a way to tackle a global crisis wrecking ecosystems and trashing the oceans.
Issued on: 05/08/2025 - 
States should seize the chance to shape history, the man chairing the talks said as 10 days of negotiations kicked off at the United Nations in Geneva.
"We are facing a global crisis," Ecuadoran diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told the more than 1,800 negotiators as they prepared to thrash out their differences in the search for common ground.
"Plastic pollution is damaging ecosystems, polluting our oceans and rivers, threatening biodiversity, harming human health, and unfairly impacting the most vulnerable," he said.
"The urgency is real, the evidence is clear -- and the responsibility is on us."
Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trench and scattered throughout almost every part of the human body.
But after five rounds of talks, three years of negotiations hit the wall in Busan, South Korea, in December when oil-producing states blocked a consensus.
Pathway to deal
Key figures steering this revived attempt insist a deal is within reach this time around.
"There's been extensive diplomacy from Busan till now," the UN Environment Programme's Executive Director Inger Andersen told AFP.
The UNEP is hosting the talks, and Andersen said conversations between different regions and interest groups had generated momentum.
"Most countries, actually, that I have spoken with have said: 'We're coming to Geneva to strike the deal’.
"Will it be easy? No. Will it be straightforward? No. Is there a pathway for a deal? Absolutely."
Dumped, burned and trashed
More than 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally each year, half of which is for single-use items.
While 15 percent of plastic waste is collected for recycling, only nine percent is actually recycled.
Nearly half, or 46 percent, ends up in landfills, while 17 percent is incinerated and 22 percent is mismanaged and becomes litter.
In 2022, countries agreed they would find a way to address the crisis by the end of 2024.
However, the supposedly final negotiations on a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the seas, flopped in Busan.
One group of countries sought an ambitious deal to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals.
But a clutch of mostly oil-producing nations rejected production limits and wanted to focus on treating waste.
Production cap gap
A cap on plastic production is one of the thorniest issues being debated in Geneva.
Katrin Schneeberger, the director of Switzerland's environment ministry, told the opening press conference: "This is no call for a production cap. Clarifying this in informal meetings was an important message to producing countries."
Without commenting on whether there would be a cap, Andersen then stressed that the treaty would cover the entire life cycle of plastics, from production to waste.
More than 600 non-governmental organisations are in Geneva, and this time have access to the discussion group meetings.
"We have to stop making so much plastic," Greenpeace's delegation chief Graham Forbes told AFP.
The group and its allies want a treaty "that cuts plastic production, eliminates toxic chemicals and provides the financing that's going to be required to transition to a fossil fuel, plastic-free future", he said.
"The fossil fuel industry is here in force," he noted, adding: "We cannot let a few countries determine humanity's future when it comes to plastic pollution."
Big triggers
France's Ecological Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher -- one of a few dozen ministers planning on heading to Geneva later in the talks -- warned Tuesday that the negotiations would be "difficult".
"I call on each state to take responsibility before we are overwhelmed by this pollution," she said in a statement.
Panama's delegate Juan Monterrey Gomez -- a fellow proponent of an ambitious treaty -- voiced optimism that a treaty could be struck on August 14.
"The beginning is better than Busan," he said of the start of talks.
No country wanting to be held responsible for sinking the negotiations "is probably the biggest trigger we can push", he told AFP.
© 2025 AFP
Fighting plastic pollution: UN's landmark treaty in the making
Issued on: 05/08/2025 -
The UN Environment Programme is hosting a conference in Geneva with the aim of building a landmark treaty to combat plastic pollution. Scientists explain that microplastics have been found on the highest mountain peaks, in the deepest ocean trenches, and even in the human body. Emerald Maxwell takes a closer look at how we can protect ourselves from microplastics.
UN Plastics Treaty: Will The Negotiations In Geneva Finally Achieve A Breakthrough?
Plastic bags in sea. Photo Credit: Pixahive
From 5 to 14 August, representatives from over 170 countries as well as from science, civil society and industry are meeting in Switzerland continuing the negotiations for a legally binding agreement to tackle the global plastic pollution.
Dr Melanie Bergmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), has been involved in the negotiations since the beginning as part of the German delegation and the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty: “Ideally, we will achieve in Geneva that the global community, or at least large parts of it, commit to a strong agreement that is based on scientific facts and recognizes how harmful plastic are to humans and nature.”
Over 460 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year. The production alone generates more greenhouse gases than the entire aviation sector. Many products are designed in a way that makes it difficult or even impossible to recycle or reuse them. The amount of plastic waste is therefore expected to triple by 2060 if we continue to produce this much plastic.
A recent study shows that there are way more plastic particles in the sea than previously assumed. According to the study, there are 27 million tons of tiny plastic particles in the upper water layer of the North Atlantic alone. Plastics can now be found in even the most remote parts of our planet, and researchers are also finding plastic everywhere in our bodies. Studies show that we have already exceeded the planetary boundaries for new substances. As part of the triple planetary crisis, plastics are therefore contributing to global warming and the biodiversity crisis.
Since 2022, delegates from UN member states and representatives from science, civil society and industry have been negotiating an agreement to curb plastic pollution.
Dr Melanie Bergmann from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), has been involved in the negotiations since the beginning as part of the German delegation and the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty: “Scientific calculations show that effective measures must start at the production level. We should limit production to unavoidable areas of application, reduce chemical diversity right from the design and gradually eliminate substances of concern.“
Although no final agreement was reached in the last round of negotiations in South Korea, more than 100 countries were much more united and clearer on red lines than before regarding production limits and the regulation of chemicals, for example. This could be a turning point. In Geneva, the parties will now try to reach consensus on a final text with measures for the agreement.
For the AWI marine biologist, this means: “The delegations must use diplomacy to bring their positions closer together, despite geopolitical tensions and differing interests in order to create a basis for successful cooperation.“
Whether decisions are made by majority or unanimous vote and how conflicts of interest can be avoided will remain crucial points of the negotiations.
“Ideally, we will achieve in Geneva that the global community, or at least large parts of it, commit to a strong agreement that is based on scientific facts and recognizes how harmful plastic are to humans and nature.“
An agreement with global regulations would simplify the production of plastic in a globalized economy and create a level playing field for all countries. One thing is certain: The production of plastic would have to be reduced by at least 12 to 17 per cent per year starting from 2024 in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the production of plastics so that they are in line with the 1.5 to 2 degree limit set out in the Paris Agreement.
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