More than 130 non-governmental organisations (Greenpeace, Environmental Justice Foundation, Zero Waste Europe) have called on the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, following recent statements by the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concerning the ‘Plastics Treaty’ (see EUROPE 13496/2).
In their view, Inger Andersen has “interpreted the scope of the future instrument restrictively by focusing exclusively on single-use and short-life plastics, excluding extraction and production from the full lifecycle of plastics”. Focusing on single-use, short-lived products would not, they argue, be enough to put an end to plastic pollution. They criticise Inger Andersen for implying that going further “would mean banning essential plastics”.
The NGOs stress that Inger Andersen’s many statements do not reflect the position of the United Nations Environment Programme, which she heads, or of other UN programmes. They asked Ms Andersen to “refrain from exceeding her role as the convener of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC)”.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/dyt (Original version in French by Florent Servia)