Global Treaty on Plastic Pollution: The Meeting is Set for 2025

In Busan, South Korea, the latest round of negotiations decided to go into "extra time." The treaty was initially set to be finalized this year, but delegations remain divided on several key issues, including a global target to reduce plastic production. An additional summit will be held in the first half of 2025 to reach a final agreement

There will be an additional round of negotiations in 2025, with the goal of finally reaching an agreement on the new global treaty against plastic pollution. More time is needed to bridge the differences between petro-states and countries with economies heavily reliant on plastic production. However, there is a sense that a shared text might finally be within reach.

This is how the latest summit on the International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution, Including in the Marine Environment, concluded – the first global treaty on plastic pollution, under discussion since 2022. The meeting brought an unexpected development: last week’s gathering in Busan, South Korea, was originally intended to be the final round. The roadmap anticipated the treaty would either be adopted at INC-5, the fifth meeting in three years, or the effort would fail altogether.

“This week’s meeting made good progress toward the conclusion of the agreement the world demands. Through the Busan talks, negotiators achieved a greater degree of convergence on the structure and elements of the treaty text, as well as a better understanding of countries’ positions and shared challenges. However, it is clear that significant divergence remains in critical areas, and more time is needed to address them,” commented Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

At the last UNEP assembly, “the world pledged to tackle plastic pollution. Now, at the next round of talks, the world will have the opportunity to finally make that a reality. An opportunity we cannot afford to miss,” Andersen added.

What is the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty?

The Global Plastic Pollution Treaty is a legally binding international agreement under negotiation, aimed at combating plastic pollution, including marine pollution. Its main objectives include:

• Preventing and reducing plastic pollution to protect human health and ecosystems.
• Addressing the full lifecycle of plastics, from production and design to disposal and recycling.
• Promoting sustainable solutions, including both mandatory and voluntary approaches.

The treaty’s significance lies in its ambition to coordinate global efforts to address a planetary-scale environmental crisis that has devastating effects on biodiversity, human health, and the economy.

The treaty envisions creating a negotiation process similar to those established in 1992 for climate change (UNFCCC), biodiversity (CBD), and desertification (UNCCD).

Plastic Pollution: A Global Issue in Numbers

The Global Plastic Pollution Treaty is critical for tackling the role of plastics in today’s major crises: environmental, climatic, biodiversity loss, and health-related. Key data on global plastic pollution include:

• Global plastic production has doubled since the start of the century, reaching nearly 400 million tons annually in 2021.
• More than half of all plastic ever produced was made after 2000.
• Annual global plastic production is expected to double by 2050.
• The average global annual plastic consumption is 60 kg per person, but in Western Europe, it’s 150 kg per person, more than twice the global average.
• Of the 7 billion tons of plastic generated globally, only 9% is recycled, 12% is incinerated, and the rest ends up in landfills or dispersed in the environment, including oceans.
• Plastic production in the EU emits 13.4 million tons of CO2 annually, accounting for 20% of emissions from the European chemical industry.
• Humans ingest an estimated 5 grams of plastic per week (equivalent to a bottle cap), totaling 250 grams per year (a full plate of plastic), or 44 kilograms over a lifetime.

The State of the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty

At the Busan negotiations, progress was made, but decisive steps to resolve the most contentious issues were lacking. Key topics critical to the quality and ambition of the treaty remain under discussion, including:

• Principles and approaches to guide the treaty.
• The definition of plastic products and the plastic production process.
• Funding mechanisms to support efforts to reduce plastic pollution.

Contentious Definitions

The INC-5 negotiations did not resolve whether the treaty will regulate plastic production, addressing the entire lifecycle of products, as mandated by the 2022 UNEP Assembly. This remains the most debated issue:

• Petro-states are pushing to focus solely on recycling without imposing limits on production.
• Other countries advocate for mechanisms to gradually reduce global plastic production, which would also reduce fossil fuel use.

Another critical point under discussion is the definition of a plastic product (and plastic waste). This definition will determine how much of actual plastic production will be subject to the new binding global rules. Petro-states seek to narrow the treaty’s scope, while other countries aim to expand it.

The New Negotiation Text on Plastic Pollution

In Busan, delegations worked on a “non-paper,” a text prepared by the negotiation process chair months earlier. This approach was necessary to avoid deadlock due to opposing vetoes. After seven days of negotiations in South Korea, a more detailed and widely accepted text was produced, referred to as the “Chair’s text.”

This new document will serve as the starting point for the next round of talks in the first half of 2025 (INC-5.2).

Key Differences Between the Two Drafts

At Busan, the delegations made significant updates to the text, signaling a direction for the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty. The comparison between the two drafts provides insight into these developments and the treaty’s evolving framework.

The Objective of the Treaty

Article 1 has undergone a radical change. The initial version set the treaty’s objective as “ending plastic pollution.” However, the new text now reads, “to protect human health and the environment from plastic pollution.” This change effectively removes any possibility of calling for a phase-out of plastics, even on the production side.

Fundamental Principles

Article 2, which addresses “Principles and Approaches,” remains largely unchanged, though a new fourth option has been introduced: no text at all. This critical article saw no reduction in the number of alternative options during the Busan negotiations. Instead, the possibility of the treaty failing altogether was introduced. Without a clear set of principles, it will be impossible to build a solid and coherent framework for the rest of the treaty.

The current options reflect two opposing positions and one more moderate stance:

1. A vague version that generically references principles underlying other UN treaties and negotiation processes.
2. A highly ambitious version explicitly citing a list of principles, including “the polluter pays.”
3. A middle-ground version that is more specific than the first but falls far short of the ambition of the second.

Basic Definitions

The new draft offers a single version for definitions of plastic, plastic products, and plastic waste, compared to the previous draft, which listed at least five alternatives for each term. However, many delegations have already expressed dissatisfaction with the current wording, making it likely to become a focal point of next year’s negotiations.

The provisional definitions are as follows:

• “Plastic”: Material(s) consisting wholly or partially of synthetic or semi-synthetic polymers, including additives or other substances, that can be shaped during processing and serve as structural components of products.
• “Plastic pollution”:
  • [Pollution caused or released during the lifecycle of plastic]
  • [All emissions and releases resulting from the production, use, waste management, and leakage of plastic from various sources and pathways]
• “Plastic product”: A product that contains or is partially or wholly made of any form of plastic.

Plastic Products

The treaty draft envisions a list of plastic products whose production will be gradually banned in all member countries, with a periodic review mechanism for the list. However, chemical precursors of these products have been removed from the scope of Article 3—a loophole strongly advocated by petro-states. A new Article 4 introduces regulations on permissible exemptions.

Production

Article 6 has become one of the most contentious parts of the treaty. The original text proposed adopting a global target to reduce plastic production.

The new version, however, suggests scrapping the article entirely and introduces alternative formulations that dilute its intent. For example:

• Making the target non-binding (“aspirational”).
• Replacing the word “reduce” with “manage,” implying that the plastic pollution problem can be addressed through recycling and consumption controls without limiting production.

This approach mirrors strategies used in climate negotiations by stakeholders seeking to avoid even mentioning fossil fuels.