UN Plastics Treaty Talks Once Again End in Failure
1 min read
Summary
Negotiators from various countries failed to agree on a global plastics treaty during a two-week meeting in August as oil-producing states resisted legally binding obligations on new plastic production and the use of hazardous chemicals.
The talks in Geneva overcame several roadblocks, but reached a stalemate as by the final day talks were unable to agree on a draft and will resume at a later date.
Environmental groups welcomed the fact the negotiators didn’t settle for a lesser treaty as many criticised the talks for their lack of transparency.
The Plastics treaty is not dead yet, but most countries expressed an interest in continued negotiations while acknowledging the need for a different format to be adopted if talks are to be fruitful.
Many criticised the consensus-based decision-making model hindering talks and called for the process to be changed to a majority-rule voting system.
The threat of a vote could be used to sway countries currently sticking to their positions although there is currently no majority-rule decision making system in place.
