At the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice on Tuesday 10 June, 95 countries called for the adoption of an ambitious treaty to tackle plastic pollution.
“We call for the adoption of a global target to reduce the production and consumption of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels”, write the signatories of this declaration (https://aeur.eu/f/h90 ). They are calling for a “legally binding” obligation to phase out the most problematic plastic products and the chemical substances of concern in these plastic products.
Although symbolic, this position is nevertheless “important”, according to the French Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher. “Some countries would have us believe that we will put an end to plastic pollution by focusing solely on collection, sorting and recycling. It’s a lie”, she declared.
The signatory countries represent more than half of the 170 states involved in negotiating a global treaty on plastics since 2022. Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic, often in the form of microplastics, seep into oceans, groundwater, food and even the human body.
Negotiations for a legally binding treaty are due to resume in Geneva at the beginning of August. The previous session, last December in Busan, ended in failure (see EUROPE 13536/14). Discussions had stalled due to opposition from a bloc of countries - mainly oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iran - hostile to any limits on world production. “If we do nothing, by 2060, plastic production will have tripled”, warned Ms Pannier-Runacher. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)