'Betrayal of humanity': Global treaty against plastic pollution shattered in Geneva

Another failure for the planet. Talks to draft the first international treaty against plastic pollution collapsed in Geneva on Wednesday, thirty hours before the scheduled end of the negotiations, with most countries rejecting a clumsy attempt at a synthesis by the presidency. After nearly three years of negotiations and nine days of intense discussions on the shores of Lake Geneva, the diplomat chairing the debates, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, presented a synthesis text and a rather complex consultation procedure to try to bridge the still very distant positions.

But instead of allowing progress, the 31-article text provoked anger, or at least dissatisfaction, among the majority of delegates in the room, who did not accept it as a basis for negotiation. Colombia, which wanted an ambitious text to combat plastic pollution, deemed the document "unacceptable" and requested a new text. Chile, Mexico, Panama, Canada, and the European Union, including France, followed suit, along with the small Pacific islands.

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For the representative of Chile, this text is "clearly unbalanced" , because "everything is relegated to the national level and the text does not create any space for international cooperation to combat plastic pollution" . The text "does not do the minimum necessary to respond to the urgency of the challenge we face" , noted the Minister of the Environment of Denmark Magnus Heunicke, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU.

"In 2022, we promised the world's citizens a treaty to eliminate plastic pollution and reduce the use of chemicals in plastic that threaten the environment and health. The proposed text is not what we proposed three years ago," he said, stressing that a compromise "requires movement from all parties." "This text talks about closing a wound... but the text presented here makes that wound fatal and we will not accept it," the Panamanian negotiator said, adding: "This is not ambition, it is surrender."

Kenya denounced the lack of binding global obligations on anything, saying it "has no demonstrable value ." Environmental NGOs also criticized the text, denouncing the lack of reference to any constraints on industrial production of virgin plastic. It is a "gift to the petrochemical industry and a betrayal of humanity," said Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace delegation.

Even oil-producing countries, which opposed all calls for regulating plastic production and bans on certain chemical molecules that are dangerous to the environment and health, have indicated that they do not like the text. Their criticisms (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, etc.) mainly focus on the lack of a "framework" and scope for action.

China, which is also the world's largest producer of plastics, called on the president to "focus" on the most important issues in the final hours of the negotiations "rather than increasing the differences." "The text needs to be rebalanced," said French Minister for Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier Runacher. "From my point of view, it is possible to write a text of around ten pages that takes into account all the main points of the file ." The most difficult thing "is to get it adopted."

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The International Chemical Council (ICCA) has not issued an opinion on the text but has warned states against being tempted to reject it before the end of the talks: "If the desire for a perfect agreement results in leaving Geneva without an agreement, the world will have lost the best opportunity it has ever had to tackle plastic pollution on a global scale," said a brief statement sent to AFP.