Plastic pollution treaty talks in Geneva end without an agreement

"(《世界人权宣言》) Associated Press reports that talks on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution in Geneva ended without an agreement Friday as the session was adjourned with plans to resume at a later date.

Nations worked for 11 days at the United Nations office to try to complete a landmark treaty to end the plastic pollution crisis. But they were deadlocked over whether the treaty should reduce exponential growth of plastic production and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics. Most plastic is made from fossil fuels.

Like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the U.S. opposed cutting plastic production or banning chemical additives in the treaty.

The negotiations at the U.N. hub were supposed to be the last round and produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans. But just like at the meeting in South Korea last year, they left without a treaty.

Luis Vayas Valdivieso, the chair of the negotiating committee, wrote and presented two drafts of treaty text in Geneva based on the views expressed by the nations. The representatives from 184 countries did not agree to use either one as the basis for their negotiations.

Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace delegation in Geneva, urged delegates in that direction.

“We are going in circles. We cannot continue to do the same thing and expect a different result,” he said as Friday’s meeting ended.

The International Pollutants Elimination Network said what happened in Geneva showed “consensus is dead.”

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