UN Plastic Talks Collapse Without Legally Binding Treaty

Fiji’s representative in the recent United Nations plastic talks has revealed that a small group of countries, including oil-producing nations, managed to derail the process by using tactics such as manipulating rules and narrowing the scope of the treaty.

One hundred countries were wanting a cap on plastic production at the UN plastic talks, but a handful of oil producing nations were only prepared to target plastic waste.
Photo: supplied

The Failure of the Negotiations

The fifth UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting was expected to result in a legally binding global treaty in Busan, South Korea. However, due to the efforts of a small group of countries, the negotiations collapsed without reaching an agreement.

Dr Sivendra Michael, Fiji’s representative at the talks, highlighted the influence of fossil fuel and petrol chemical lobbyists on the negotiation process. “They outnumbered delegates from Pacific small island developing states by more than double,” he said.

“It was similar to COP29, the UN climate change meeting last month in Azerbaijan,” Dr Michael noted. “A small group of countries managed to derail the process using the dark arts of multilateral diplomacy.”

What Fiji Wants

Fiji is adamant that any future plastic deal should be more robust than previous international climate deals, which allowed nations to get away with not fulfilling their commitments.

“We don’t want to make the same mistake when agreeing to this treaty,” Dr Michael said. “We are most adamant that we cannot have the same mistakes as in the Paris Agreement, where voluntary targets were left in place.”

Conclusion

The collapse of the UN plastic talks highlights the challenges faced by international agreements aimed at addressing environmental issues. While Fiji and other Pacific island nations push for more robust deals, fossil fuel-producing countries continue to exert influence over the negotiation process.

As Dr Michael noted, “We know that a small group of countries managed to derail the process by using what I would describe as the dark arts of multilateral diplomacy.”

The future of international agreements on environmental issues remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: the need for stronger commitments and more transparent negotiation processes cannot be ignored.