“The leadership of the European Union and its Member States has never been more welcome, and the need has never been greater”, said the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, during a discussion with European environment ministers on global environmental policies on Thursday 27 March.
At least three major events are scheduled for this year, including COP30, the resumption of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) negotiations on the ‘Plastic Pollution Treaty’ in August in Geneva (see EUROPE 13600/3), and the seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly.
After praising Europe’s environmental ambitions, citing in particular the ‘Clean Industrial Deal’ (see EUROPE 13609/2) and the ‘Water Resilience Strategy’ (see EUROPE 13570/5), Inger Andersen told the ministers what she expected from the EU: 1) Defend a treaty “that will put an end to plastic pollution”; 2) Defend UN Resolution 514, which defines “responsible and sustainable consumption” while UN member states have not yet managed to “agree” on this point; 3) Financially support developing countries in the fight against plastic pollution.
The European Commission, through the Commissioner for Environment Jessika Roswall, and the EU Member States are committed to continuing to provide an ambitious voice in the negotiations on future global environmental policies.
Most Member States were in favour of a ‘Plastics Treaty’ covering the entire life cycle of plastics.
France’s Minister for the Environment, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, stressed that after a “lacklustre” year in 2024 for global environmental diplomacy, the EU would have to “protect scientists and ensure that their work is not regarded as opinion”. In her view, “the US withdrawal” should also lead the EU “to seek new alliances”.
Welcoming the initiative of Norway and Rwanda to prepare an ambitious joint declaration for the ‘Plastics Treaty’, Agnès Pannier-Runacher invited European ministers to attend an event in Nice, during the United Nations Ocean Conference in June, to put forward this declaration.
Luxembourg’s Minister for the Environment, Serge Wilmes, said he was convinced that the “momentum” achieved with the formation of a broad coalition of countries pushing for an ambitious plastics treaty would translate into success in Geneva.
The complexity of the current geopolitical situation has prompted several Member States to point out that the EU will have to “remain realistic” and remember, in Geneva, that “every action will have to be financed” (Lithuania).
In the same vein, the Czech Republic called for a “rationalisation of international agreements”, while Greece said that the EU’s resources were “limited” and that “the most ambitious objective” would be to “conclude the agreement”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)