UN INC-3: “Shameless stalling” by oil-producing nations further derails Global Plastics Treaty progress

20 Nov 2023 --- The third round of negotiations for the UN’s binding Global Plastics Treaty (INC-3) ended in Nairobi, Kenya, last week, with numerous civil society groups expressing frustration and accusing governments of bowing to petrochemical industry pressure. 

After five days, no targets, baselines, schedules or strict reporting mechanisms were agreed on due to a small group of countries — including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia — trying to reverse and alter previously agreed-on mandates for the treaty. 

These countries attempted to insert language into the treaty texts such as “national priorities,” “national circumstances” and a “bottom-up approach,” which could lead to voluntary rather than legally binding measures, similar to the Paris Climate Agreements. 

According to Merrisa Naidoo, plastics campaigner at GAIA Africa, the same states also “worked hard to undermine” the mandate for a treaty covering the pre-established “full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal,” to focus solely on waste management approaches. 

Recently, European plastics industry stakeholders openly called for a redirection in the treaty negotiations, requesting an emphasis on waste management instead of reduced production. 

“Prioritizing profit” 
Governments began the week with a “Zero Draft” of the treaty text and a mandate to agree on a work program but have now left eight days later with a “Revised Zero Draft.” 

The text is now over 100 pages long and has no intersessional agenda. 

Protestors at the INC-3 in Nairobi, Kenya.During the negotiations, CIEL president Carroll Muffett said, “the treaty is still achievable in these talks, but only if negotiators acknowledge and confront the coordinated campaign by fossil fuel and petrochemical exporters to prevent real progress of any kind.”

Currently, two international coalitions are vying for different forms of instrumentation, with the 

“High Ambition Coalition” (HAC) comprising EU member states and numerous African and MENA countries, calling for stricter policies enforced worldwide. 

The other is the US-centered coalition driving for more national freedom on implementation. However, some members of the HAC are also accused of helping stonewall the procedures.

Erin Simon, vice president and head of Plastic Waste & Business at WWF-US, says that while the majority of states “had the best intentions,” the entire process was continually delayed by a small number of member states “prioritizing plastic and profit before the planet.” 

Calls to “stand firm” 
Alongside oil-exporting countries, INC-3 saw a significant petrochemical industry presence. A CIEL analysis revealed that 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered for the negotiations — including on country delegations. 

“The results this week are no accident,” says David Azoulay, program director for Environmental Health at CIEL. “Progress on plastics will be impossible if member states do not confront and address the fundamental reality of industry influence in this process.” 

The INC-3 followed similar delays at the INC-2 in Paris, France (May 31-June 2), at which treaty talks began after three days due to the same oil-producing nations forcing renegotiations on procedural rules, which had already been established. 

These derailments draw efforts away from many of the most pressing issues that industry stakeholders, civil society leaders and consumers are demanding: an obligatory cap on global plastics production, workers’ rights for waste pickers and an end to the “waste colonialism” by which Western nations dump their trash in poorer global regions. 

“The job is clearly not done, and negotiators leave Nairobi without a plan in place to get to work before INC-4,” says Simon. 

“With just over a year to deliver on our promise of a future free from plastic pollution, countries must stand strong and bring collective action to reject the tactics to block the treaty process. It’s time to muster the political will to course correct and solve this crisis before it’s too late.” 

The fourth round of negotiations (INC-4) will commence in Ottawa, Canada, in April 2024. 

By Louis Gore-Langton