By Abdullahi Lukman
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) announced Monday that an additional round of negotiations to finalize a global plastics treaty will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from August 5 to 14.
This decision follows the failure of countries to reach an agreement during the fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting in Busan, South Korea, last December.
The Busan meeting, intended to produce a legally binding treaty, stalled due to deep divisions over key issues, including capping plastic production, managing harmful plastic chemicals, and providing financial aid to developing nations.
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Consequently, the session was extended and rebranded as INC 5.2.
A significant point of contention in Busan was the inclusion of a global plastic production reduction target, supported by over 100 countries, versus a proposal backed by oil and petrochemical-producing states that omitted such caps.
The upcoming Geneva session faces additional challenges amid a strained geopolitical landscape. Recent international climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, highlighted growing tensions, with disagreements over global finance targets.
The EU has shown signs of softening its climate policies, and the U.S. has a history of withdrawing from international climate agreements and cutting climate finance under the Trump administration.
The UNEP hopes the Geneva meeting will bridge these divides and produce a comprehensive treaty to address the global plastic pollution crisis.
