Stockholm (NordSIP) – The second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment – better known as INC-5.2 – is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from 5 to 14 August 2025.
The previous fifth session that was held in Busan, Republic of Korea at the end of 2024 had been intended as the final round of negotiations and the occasion for the global plastics treaty to be ratified and signed. However, progress was hampered following intensive and coordinated lobbying by a small number of fossil fuel producing states that have a vested interest in maintaining plastic production. Rather than sign what many considered a watered-down treaty text, the organisers agreed to reconvene for another session with the aim of achieving consensus on a robust treaty.
The 22-page draft treaty text that delegates will be discussing this week retains 370 so-called brackets. With each of these signalling a remaining point of contention, this provides an indication of the challenge ahead. One key topic is the very decision-making system implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The failure of INC 5.1 was due to the need for full consensus, which allowed the small number of petrostates to obstruct the process. This despite the official procedural rules allowing for majority voting when consensus fails. Majority voting is also commonly used in other UN-sponsored forums, and there will be a push for it to be allowed at INC 5.2. The alternative may be a diluted treaty replete with loopholes.
Petrochemical industry on the defensive
At current growth rates global plastic production is expected to triple by 2060. An average 9% of plastic is recycled, which means that industry promises of better waste management and so-called ‘advanced’ recycling are highly unlikely to be able to handle the more than 400 million tonnes of plastic waste produced each year. This is why more than 100 states have called for the treaty to include production caps and targets to phase out plastic use. The fossil fuel lobbyists that outnumbered scientists and indigenous peoples’ representatives three-to-one at INC 5.1 will continue fighting for downstream solutions rather than risk jeopardising the production of raw plastic. While fossil fuel use in the energy and transport sectors is clearly on a long-term downward trend, petrostates appear to see plastics and petrochemicals as a crucial hedge.
Meanwhile, the start of INC 5.2 coincided with the publication of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste’s (AEPW) Progress Report 2024. The AEPW membership consists of the world’s largest plastics producers and users. It focuses almost exclusively on downstream solutions to plastic waste, ranging from grants given to small waste collecting groups in developing nations to investments in technical recycling innovations that cannot be implemented at sufficient scale. The AEPW report’s headline statistic of a 240,000-tonne reduction in unmanaged plastic waste since 2019 can be contrasted with the estimated 2.1 billion tonnes of raw plastic produced over the same period.
INC 5.2 runs until 14 August 2025, with updates available via the official website.
Image courtesy of Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Stockholm (NordSIP) – The second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment – better known as INC-5.2 – is taking place in Geneva, Switzerland from 5 to 14 August 2025.
The previous fifth session that was held in Busan, Republic of Korea at the end of 2024 had been intended as the final round of negotiations and the occasion for the global plastics treaty to be ratified and signed. However, progress was hampered following intensive and coordinated lobbying by a small number of fossil fuel producing states that have a vested interest in maintaining plastic production. Rather than sign what many considered a watered-down treaty text, the organisers agreed to reconvene for another session with the aim of achieving consensus on a robust treaty.
The 22-page draft treaty text that delegates will be discussing this week retains 370 so-called brackets. With each of these signalling a remaining point of contention, this provides an indication of the challenge ahead. One key topic is the very decision-making system implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The failure of INC 5.1 was due to the need for full consensus, which allowed the small number of petrostates to obstruct the process. This despite the official procedural rules allowing for majority voting when consensus fails. Majority voting is also commonly used in other UN-sponsored forums, and there will be a push for it to be allowed at INC 5.2. The alternative may be a diluted treaty replete with loopholes.
Petrochemical industry on the defensive
At current growth rates global plastic production is expected to triple by 2060. An average 9% of plastic is recycled, which means that industry promises of better waste management and so-called ‘advanced’ recycling are highly unlikely to be able to handle the more than 400 million tonnes of plastic waste produced each year. This is why more than 100 states have called for the treaty to include production caps and targets to phase out plastic use. The fossil fuel lobbyists that outnumbered scientists and indigenous peoples’ representatives three-to-one at INC 5.1 will continue fighting for downstream solutions rather than risk jeopardising the production of raw plastic. While fossil fuel use in the energy and transport sectors is clearly on a long-term downward trend, petrostates appear to see plastics and petrochemicals as a crucial hedge.
Meanwhile, the start of INC 5.2 coincided with the publication of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste’s (AEPW) Progress Report 2024. The AEPW membership consists of the world’s largest plastics producers and users. It focuses almost exclusively on downstream solutions to plastic waste, ranging from grants given to small waste collecting groups in developing nations to investments in technical recycling innovations that cannot be implemented at sufficient scale. The AEPW report’s headline statistic of a 240,000-tonne reduction in unmanaged plastic waste since 2019 can be contrasted with the estimated 2.1 billion tonnes of raw plastic produced over the same period.
INC 5.2 runs until 14 August 2025, with updates available via the official website.
Image courtesy of Pete Linforth from Pixabay
