How long before a global plastics treaty is agreed?
Plastic pollution is a major global problem. In Geneva, world leaders are discussing a possible plastics treaty. Lecturer Esther Kentin talked to Dutch news platform NU.nl about the UN summit: ‘A treaty is only a small part of the solution.’
More and more plastic is being produced worldwide. Between 2000 and 2019, plastic production doubled to 460 million tons per year. In comparison, you can fill more than 18 million large trucks with that. New research, published in a medical journal, shows that plastic causes more than one trillion euros in health-related economic losses annually. In light of these figures, the ten-day UN summit in Geneva on how to tackle plastic pollution is all the more pressing.
But it is doubtful whether a breakthrough will be reached. In 2022, UN member states already called for a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. After three-and-a-half years and six rounds of talks, the negotiations have now entered ‘injury time’. Kentin is not optimistic about the feasibility of achieving a plastics treaty: ‘The chances of it not working out again are very high.' However, she points out that despite the lack of a treaty, countries can still take measures such as banning chemicals and plastic products. 'A treaty is only a small part of the solution.'
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Read the full article on NU.nl (in Dutch)