BUSAN, South Korea — Delegates seeking the world’s first deal to curb plastic pollution began openly advocating for an extension of talks on Sunday, accusing a handful of nations of obstructing an ambitious agreement.
Nearly 200 nations are in South Korea’s Busan for negotiations that are supposed to result in a landmark accord after two years of discussions.
But a week of talks has failed to resolve deep divisions between “high-ambition” countries seeking a globally binding agreement to limit production and phase out harmful chemicals, and “like-minded” nations who want to focus on waste.
(From left) Olga Givernet, minister delegate for Energy of France; Juan Carlos Monterrey, special representative for climate change and National Climate Change director of the Ministry of Environment of Panama; Juliet Kabera, director general of the Rwanda Environment Management Authority; and Anthony Agotha, special envoy for climate and environment diplomacy, European Union, attend a member state press briefing during the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution (INC-5) in Busan on Dec.1, 2024. Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP
A new draft text, released Sunday afternoon after multiple delays, still includes a wide range of options, making clear the ongoing level of disagreement.
German delegate Sebastian Unger told Agence France-Presse he was “disappointed about lack of progress.”
The “text should be preserved to continue negotiations and bring (the) process forward at (a) future meeting.”
The prospect of an “INC 5.2” meeting to follow the INC5 talks in Busan was also raised by Senegal’s Cheikh Sylla.
“If you ask me… we stop, we adapt the paper as it is, and we try to do another session,” he told AFP.
That would offer time “to bring the positions closer together, and at this session 5.2, we can reach an agreement that is balanced.”
The calls reflect a sense that there is simply too little time left to overcome the opposition from mainly oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and Russia, who have repeatedly refused to comment when approached by AFP.
‘Break free’
A French minister at the talks accused the like-minded group of “continuing obstruction,” while Rwandan delegate Juliet Kabera said a “small number” of countries “remain unsupportive of the measures necessary to drive real change.”
“We still have a few hours left in these negotiations; there is time to find common ground, but Rwanda cannot accept a toothless treaty,” said Kabera.
Portuguese delegate Maria Joao Teixeira also said another round of talks might be the best option for a meaningful deal.
“We are really trying to not have a weak treaty,” she said.
Environmental groups have pushed ambitious countries to call a vote if progress stalls and said another round of negotiations was unnecessary.
“We know what we need to do to end plastic pollution… simply adding more meetings is not the solution,” said Eirik Lindebjerg, global plastics policy lead at WWF.
“For a strong enough agreement to ever happen, countries must break free from arbitrary habits and be ready to vote or adopt a treaty among the willing,” he told AFP.
But observers caution that calling a vote risks alienating even some countries in favor of a strong treaty.
Another option would be for the diplomat chairing the talks to simply gavel through an agreement over the objections of a handful of holdouts, they said.
That, too, holds risks, potentially embittering the remaining diplomatic process and jeopardizing the adoption of a treaty down the road.
Be the first to comment