A global plastics treaty’s first round of discussions came to a close on Friday with an agreement to stop plastic pollution but a disagreement over whether objectives and efforts should be universal and obligatory or national and optional.
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC), comprised of more than 2,000 representatives from 160 nations, is convening in Uruguay for the first of five sessions with the goal of creating the first legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by the end of 2024.
A ‘High Ambition Coalition,’ which included members of the European Union, competed in the negotiations in the coastal city of Punta del Este against nations like the United States and Saudi Arabia, which are home to some of the largest plastic and petrochemical corporations in the world.
Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, called plastics ‘fossil fuels in another form’ and encouraged countries to take action against pollution and production.
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