Hopes for a landmark UN treaty to end plastic pollution have stalled in Geneva, with negotiations extended by a day after delegates failed to agree on a draft text.
Talks chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso adjourned the session late Thursday, saying consultations on his revised text were still ongoing. The proposal — stripped of measures to cap plastic production or regulate toxic chemicals — was rejected by both sides: high-ambition countries called it a hollow waste-management accord, while oil-producing states said it crossed too many “red lines”.
UN Environment Programme chief Inger Andersen acknowledged the frustration but urged persistence. “I know this will not be the ending you had hoped for — and nor indeed the ending that we at UNEP have worked for,” she said. “Ultimately, I have heard from every country here … you want to end plastic pollution. You want a deal.”
Divisions remain over whether the treaty should address plastics’ full life cycle — from fossil fuel extraction to disposal — or focus solely on waste. The EU called the draft “not acceptable”, Panama labelled it “surrender”, and Tuvalu warned it risked failing to protect vulnerable nations from an “existential threat”.
Environmental groups sounded the alarm. Greenpeace urged ministers to tackle “the relentless expansion of plastic production”, while WWF warned that failure means “more damage, more harm, more suffering”.
The latest round of talks — known as INC-5.2 — was due to end Thursday but will now resume Friday, with pressure mounting for countries to find common ground.
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Photo credit: Florian Fussstetter/ UNEP