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The plastics treaty: steps forward, agreement deferred
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This perspective piece reviews the progress of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) toward an international legally binding plastics treaty from 2022 to mid-2025. It outlines the divergent positions of countries on production caps, chemical restrictions, and financing mechanisms, and assesses the likelihood of an effective global agreement.
The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) and the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) have been working on an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (Plastics Treaty) since 2022. This piece presents a perspective on the current progress of the Plastics Treaty from the first session of the UNEA to the last session of the INC as of August 2025, highlighting different positions of States and groups of States, based on which, argues that some of the key contentions remain throughout the negotiations.
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Stalled at the Negotiating Table: Updates from INC-5.2 Towards a Global Plastics Treaty
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Researchers analyzed the second session of the fifth round of global plastics treaty negotiations (INC-5.2), finding that talks ended without agreement due to persistent divisions over production caps and financial mechanisms, though areas of convergence emerged that leave a path forward open.
International Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution - Past discussions and future perspectives
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This article analyzes the four Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meetings leading toward a legally binding global plastics treaty under UNEA resolution 5/14, examining the evolution of negotiating positions and key sticking points across sessions including INC4 in April 2024. The study discusses the direction of negotiations needed to achieve an effective treaty with broad participation from major plastic-producing and emitting countries.
Deadlock at INC-5.2: Understanding the blocked progress of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations
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The Global Plastics Treaty negotiations at INC-5.2 in 2025 collapsed due to a fundamental split between nations favoring upstream plastic production caps and oil-producing states limiting discussion to downstream waste management. This governance failure has profound implications for microplastic pollution, as without production limits, plastic fragmentation into the environment will continue accelerating.
Five’s a crowd: divergence and delay at the first half of the fifth global plastics treaty negotiation (INC-5.1)
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Participant observation and document analysis of the UN INC-5.1 global plastics treaty negotiations in Busan (2024) revealed that fundamental disagreements between waste-management-focused nations and those advocating full lifecycle production limits prevented consensus, extending negotiations beyond 2026. The impasse underscores how divergent national interests continue to stall binding international action on plastic pollution at its source.
The Prospects of an International Treaty on Plastic Pollution
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This analysis examines the proposed elements of a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution, reviewing negotiations launched by the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022 and outlining the key legal and governance challenges in developing a comprehensive global plastics agreement.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.