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Global plastic pollution treaty talks end in Geneva without agreement – SUCH TV



Delegates working on the world’s first legally binding treaty to curb plastic pollution failed to reach an agreement, leaving diplomats frustrated and disheartened after 10 days of negotiations in Geneva ended without progress.

Hopes had been high for a breakthrough in the deadlocked UN talks, but countries advocating for a strong and ambitious treaty said the latest draft text fell far short of expectations.

Ecuador’s Luis Vayas Valdivieso, who chaired the negotiations, adjourned the session with a promise to resume at a later date yet to be determined.

His announcement drew only faint applause from weary delegates who had worked late into the night.

French Ecology Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher expressed anger during the closing session, saying, “Despite sincere efforts and some progress in discussions, no concrete results have been achieved.”

Colombia’s delegate, Haendel Rodriguez, indirectly criticized oil-producing states, stating that “a small group of countries blocked the deal, simply because they did not want an agreement.”

Diplomats and climate advocates had warned earlier this month that efforts by the European Union and small island states to cap virgin plastic production fuelled by petroleum, coal and gas faced opposition from petrochemical-producing countries and the US under President Donald Trump.

US delegate John Thompson from the State Department declined to comment as he left the talks.

The path forward for the negotiations is uncertain.

UN officials and some countries, including Britain, said that negotiations should resume but others described a broken process.

“It is very clear that the current process will not work,” South Africa’s delegate said.

More than 1,000 delegates have gathered in Geneva for the sixth round of talks, after a meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) in South Korea late last year ended without a deal.

Negotiations had gone into overtime on Thursday as countries scrambled to bridge deep divisions over the extent of future curbs.

Many, including Danish environment minister Magnus Heunicke, who negotiated on behalf of the EU, were disappointed that the final push did not yield any results.

“Of course, we cannot hide that it is tragic and deeply disappointing to see some countries trying to block an agreement,” he told reporters while vowing to keep working on the treaty necessary to tackle “one of the biggest pollution problems we have on earth”.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, also pledged to continue work. “We did not get where we want but people want a deal,” she said.

The most divisive issues include capping production, managing plastic products and chemicals of concern, and financing to help developing countries implement the treaty.

Anti-plastics campaigners voiced disappointment at the outcome but welcomed states’ rejection of a weak deal that failed to place limits on plastics production. “No treaty is better than a bad treaty,” said Ana Rocha, Global Plastics Policy Director from environmental group GAIA.



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