Divisions on curbing plastic waste persist, UN treaty talks begin

As delegates from 175 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea on Monday for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution, lingering divisions cast doubts on whether a final agreement was in sight.

South Korea is hosting the fifth and ostensibly final U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting this week, after the previous round of talks in Ottawa in April ended without a path forward on capping plastic production.

Instead, talks will be focused on chemicals of concern and other measures after petrochemical-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and China strongly opposed efforts to target plastic production, over the protests of countries that bear the brunt of plastic pollution.

The divisions plaguing the plastics treaty talks echo conflicts that have long stalled U.N. efforts to curb global warming, with the most recent climate summit, COP29, having just ended with an agreement poorer nations assailed as inadequate.

INC Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso told reporters on Monday he was confident this week's negotiations would yield a treaty or a text leading to a treaty.

"Without significant intervention the amount of plastic entering the environment annually by 2040 is expected to nearly double compared to 2022," Valdivieso said at the opening session in Busan on Monday.

"It is about humanity rising to meet an existential challenge," he said, noting that microplastics have been found in human organs.

The United States raised eyebrows in August when it said it would back plastic production caps in the treaty, putting it in alignment with the EU, Kenya, Peru and other countries in the High Ambition Coalition.

The election of Donald Trump as president, however, has raised questions about that position, as during his first presidency he shunned multilateral agreements and any commitments to slow or stop U.S. oil and petrochemical production.

The U.S. delegation did not answer questions on whether it would reverse its new position to support plastic production caps. But it "supports ensuring that the global instrument addresses plastic products, chemicals used in plastic products, and the supply of primary plastic polymers," according to a spokesperson for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, on Monday urged delegates divided over curbing plastic products and chemicals and a financing mechanism to deal with plastic waste to remember that the 2022 U.N. Environment Assembly resolution called for "sustainable production and consumption of plastics taking a lifecycle approach".