Underrepresented developing States, marginalized communities, big business and procedural injustice – how equal were the UN INC-5.2 Global Plastic Treaty negotiations?

Abstract Negotiations by more than 180 States during the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) session 5.2 to develop a legally binding instrument with the purpose to end plastic pollution have, once again, concluded without a treaty. This is especially disastrous for developing States and marginalized peoples (such as indigenous communities and waste pickers), who are disproportionately suffering from plastic pollution. In this article, we show that developing States were underrepresented at the INC-5.2 negotiations in Geneva: Their delegations were on average only half as large (~5 delegates) when compared to delegations from Western European States (~13 delegates) and those from States with a high and very high Human Development Index (~10 delegates). In addition, more than 230 industry representatives participated in INC-5.2, exerting influence in diverse ways, both during official negotiations and through side events, organized by lobbying organizations. Finally, we discuss the importance of how treaty negotiations were organized: Simultaneously occurring negotiation formats (such as contact groups and informal meetings) put smaller delegations at a disadvantage, causing procedural injustice, which falls under the responsibility of the INC Secretariat.