Plastic Treaty Negotiations Remain Stalled a Year After Collapse

A year after the collapse of negotiations in Geneva, talks on a global plastics treaty remain paralyzed, with a new draft text released this week showing little progress. The draft, shared by Ambassador Julio Cordano of Chile, contains no limits on plastic production, no controls on toxic chemicals, and no dedicated health article.

The lack of progress is a concern for scientists and civil society groups, who have broadly condemned the draft as a step backwards. Dharmesh Shah, a senior campaigner at the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), said the draft is “as bad as the one that was rejected on the last day of the Geneva negotiations.”

Stalled Negotiations

The process began in 2022 with a unanimous vote by 175 countries to negotiate a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, yet little headway has been made. The negotiations are now stalled, with no clear way forward. The new draft text is intended as the basis for closed-door discussions between countries in Bangkok next month.

The draft text has been criticized for its lack of ambition, with provisions that were previously accepted being reopened. A standalone health article, which was pushed by dozens of countries in Geneva as central to the treaty’s purpose, has been dropped. Chemicals of concern, including phthalates and BPA, have been reduced to a single bracket noting the “risks” they pose.

If the Chair’s text were adopted as a legally binding treaty, nations’ legal obligations would be thin, and self-policed. Countries would be required to manage plastic waste in an “environmentally sound manner” and report on their efforts. They would be encouraged, but not required, to develop national plans, improve product design, and address problematic plastic products “as appropriate” and “in accordance with national circumstances.”

Health Impacts

Chemicals of concern — including phthalates and BPA, endocrine disruptors linked to infertility, hormone disorders, neurodevelopmental harm and hundreds of thousands of cardiovascular deaths — have been reduced to a single bracket noting the “risks” they pose. The estimated health costs of plastic chemicals run to $250 billion annually in the United States alone.

Microplastics have been detected in human blood, lungs, breast milk, placentas, and brains. By some estimates, humans ingest as much as five grams of plastic per week.

Geopolitical Trends

The forces that torpedoed the Geneva talks remain largely intact, with the United States and the Gulf petrochemical bloc continuing to push for a treaty focused exclusively on waste management. The nations fighting hardest for an ambitious treaty, including Fiji, Palau, and other Pacific Island states, have fewer people than France, less than 1% of global emissions, and a combined economy smaller than a single oil major’s annual revenue.

Norway and Japan have hosted informal meetings of high-ambition countries to develop bridging proposals on the treaty’s most contested issues. The next meeting of high-ambition nations is set for early September, in a bid to coordinate negotiating positions and strategy ahead of the heads of delegation meeting in Bangkok.

Support for strengthening the plastic treaty has grown steadily, with over 100 countries backing a high-ambition treaty, including global chemical bans, circular economy design requirements, financing, and guarantees to strengthen the treaty over time. David Azoulay, director of environmental health at CIEL, said the ultimate goal of the process is not to deliver any treaty just for the sake of an agreement, but to deliver a treaty that ends plastic pollution. “We should remember that the ultimate goal of this process is not to deliver any treaty just for the sake of an agreement,” he said. “It’s to deliver a treaty that ends plastic pollution.”