UN plastics treaty talks end without an agreement

In Grist, a story notes that diplomats from around the world concluded nine days of talks in Geneva — plus a marathon overnight session that lasted into the early hours of Friday — with no agreement on a global plastics treaty.

During a closing plenary that started on Friday at 6:30 a.m. — more than 15 hours after it was originally scheduled to begin — nearly all countries opposed an updated draft of the United Nations treaty that was put forward by the negotiating committee chair, the Ecuadorian diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso. Many of the delegates said the text did not reflect their mandate under a U.N. Environment Assembly resolution to “end plastic pollution” by addressing the “full life cycle” of plastics.

Over the course of the Geneva talks, delegates rejected two new drafts of the treaty prepared by Valdivieso: one released on Wednesday, which was so objectionable that countries said it was “repulsive” and lacked “any demonstrable value;” and the most recent one published just hours before Friday’s 6:30 a.m. plenary. Many expressed their preference to revert back to the Busan draft as a basis for future discussions.

Despite Friday’s outcome, the plastics treaty does not yet appear to be dead. Virtually all countries expressed an interest in continued negotiations — the European Union delegate Jessika Roswall said she would not accept “a stillborn treaty” — and many used their mic time during the closing plenary to remind others of what’s at stake.

Without a change in the negotiations’ format — particularly around decision-making — it’s unclear whether further discussions will be fruitful. The norm around “consensus-based decision-making” means the threat of a vote can’t be used to nudge obstinate countries away from their red lines; unless decision-making by a majority vote is introduced then this dynamic is unlikely to change. “This meeting proved that consensus is dead,” said Bjorn Beeler, executive director of the International Pollutants Elimination Network, a coalition of health and environmental organizations. “The problem is not going away.”

Read the full story here.