Event:2025 plastic pollution treaty negotiations
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Date of event: August 15, 2025
It serves as a compendium of this event in time, drawing on a variety of journalistic and other sources. For occasions such as international observances, it covers related events globally.
Between August 5 and August 15, 2025, delegates from over 180 countries[lower-alpha 1] met in the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva to establish an international treaty on plastic pollution. No treaty was unanimously agreed upon at the end of the meeting.[1]
This was the sixth round of talks of the International Negotiating Committee (INC), established in 2022 by the United Nations with a mandate to write a legally-binding global treaty.[2] It followed a December 2024 meeting in Busan, South Korea, already intended to be the final meeting,[4] which failed to produce an agreement due to disagreements over production cuts.[5]
Two drafts were submitted by INC chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso. The High Ambition Coalition, including the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and countries from Latin America and Africa, aimed for the treaty to limit plastic production and to phase out toxic chemicals. The goal of limiting plastic production was shared by around 100 countries.[2][3] A wide-ranging treaty was supported by environmental associations such as Greenpeace,[6] as well as by the Business Coalition, which included plastic packagers like Nestle and Unilever.[7] Other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Russia, most of them oil-producing states, formed the Like-Minded Group, which preferred for a more specific treaty focused on recycling and waste management.[2][3] Opposition from these countries and the United States was linked to the role played by plastic in society and in the global economy, in alignment with the positions of the fossil fuel and plastic industries.[5][6]
A compromise draft was written by Valdivieso on August 14, but was rejected by both sides, and the talks were extended to the next day.[2] That draft did not place specific limits on plastic production, but described the current production levels as unsustainable.[1] It also lacked wording limiting plastic production or toxic chemical management,[2] although it supported national efforts to design plastics for ease of recycling, and to limit toxic chemicals.[7] Further negotiations failed, with no treaty being announced at the closing session.[4] The session was adjourned,[4] and discussions were stated to continue as a future date, although no specific plan was announced.[5]
Notes
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 McDermott, Jennifer (2025-08-15). "No end in sight to plastic pollution crisis as treaty negotiations in Geneva fail". AP. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "UN plastic pollution treaty talks extended by a day as no agreement reached". Al Jazeera. 2025-08-14. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "'We have missed a historic opportunity': Plastic pollution treaty talks end in deadlock". France 24. 2025-08-15. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Geneva talks on global plastic pollution treaty collapse without a deal". Al Jazeera. 2025-08-15. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Paddison, Laura (2025-08-15). "Global plastic treaty talks end in failure as countries remain bitterly divided over how to tackle the crisis". CNN. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 McDermott, Jennifer (2025-08-08). "US at plastics treaty talks is rare international participation under Trump. What's the goal?". AP. Retrieved 2025-08-23.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Stallard, Esme; Poynting, Mark (2025-08-15). "Global plastic talks collapse as countries remain deeply divided". BBC. Retrieved 2025-08-23.