IUCN launches collaboration ahead of INC-3 meetings on UN Global Plastic Treaty

25 Sep 2023 --- The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and its partners have launched an international, science-focused public-private End Plastic Pollution International Collaborative (EPPIC) partnership designed to drive innovation and investment to transform the plastic sector toward circular solutions. 

Through an investment of US$14.5 million, EPPIC aims to align stakeholders for effective action – ensuring that policy and regulatory frameworks support science-based solutions to enable a just transition to circular approaches for plastic. 

The partnership is said to build momentum before the next meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-3), November 13-19, and subsequent INC meetings, bringing together a diverse set of stakeholders to complement actions taken by national governments and support an ambitious inclusive agreement by 2024. 

EPPIC aims to enable a circular plastic transition by:

• Increasing knowledge of potential upstream, midstream and end-of-life solutions.
• Ensuring policy and regulatory frameworks are supportive of science-based solutions.
• Bolstering science-based solutions and technologies in target regions.

The program aims to provide innovative solutions to enable a transition to a circular plastic economy.US administration support 
Over 400 attendees from the public sector and organizations with equities across the plastics value chain gathered to celebrate EPPIC’s whole-of-society approach to driving action on plastic pollution. 

EPPIC will be jointly hosted and implemented by IUCN, the Aspen Institute, The Ocean Foundation and Searious Business, with support from the US Department of State. EPPIC will convene governments, businesses, civil society and philanthropies to accelerate global action on plastic pollution, focusing on science-based solutions to reduce, reuse and recycle plastic waste. 

Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, says: “We know all too well the devastating impacts of plastic pollution on our planet. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to finding real solutions to this global crisis at home and abroad. EPPIC will create the stage to motivate ambitious commitments and actions to combat plastic pollution.” 

Upscale boost
As a public-private partnership, EPPIC is said to have reach and opportunities that individual philanthropies, NGOs, companies or national governments could not establish working on their own.

IUCN acting director general, Dr Grethel Aguilar, comments: “This new program aims to provide innovative solutions to enable a just transition to a circular plastic economy. Governments, the private sector, civil society, academia and the informal sector must work together to solve this crisis and be bold in our efforts to make positive change.”

“The partnership structure incorporates the critical role of knowledge-based and scientific expertise to develop strong public-private partnerships to support a range of innovative solutions needed for systemic and societal change in the target regions,” adds Willemijn Peeters, CEO and founder of Searious Business.

He continues by saying that the EPPIC approach will build on existing partnerships and networks established across regions to avoid duplication of efforts and enable faster upscaling. 

Mark J. Spalding, president of The Ocean Foundation, comments: “A diverse set of partners will need to work collaboratively to reduce plastic production, redesign materials, make dramatic changes to supply chains, invest in innovation and adopt circular economic models and improved waste management practices to close the plastic tap.”

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim

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