In the early morning hours of August 15, the INC Chair released a new draft text proposal for negotiation going forward. IPEN appreciates the Chair’s work and the draft, which shows that many member states remain dedicated to fighting for a Plastics Treaty that upholds human rights to a clean, healthy environment. There are positive signs that the text has included some key concepts: the new text contains references to national measures on chemicals of concern, health, science, the plastics life cycle, and the sciences and practices of Indigenous Peoples.
Many countries did not accept the Chair’s previous text, and IPEN is disappointed that the current version retains many of that version’s deficiencies. If adopted, the current text would remain nothing but a waste management treaty. Unfortunately, the positive changes are very small steps and, as drafted, will not produce a Treaty that will meaningfully protect human health and the environment from the well-documented threats from plastics and toxic plastic chemicals.
The Chair’s current draft is lacking because it fails to include:
- Globally binding controls on products and hazardous plastic chemicals (chemicals of concern) through the life cycle.
- Global controls on plastic overproduction, including toxic emissions from primary plastic production.
- Provisions to protect human health and to monitor the impacts on human health.
The chair’s text will not suffice to halt the increasing production volumes, as plastic production is projected to triple in the coming decades. It relies on voluntary measures to protect public health from harmful chemicals – an approach that has failed for decades in the national and international arenas.
The text also fails to institute the polluter pays principle or provide financial and technical support, sourced from plastic-producing states that manufacture and export primary plastic polymers. Instead, it includes a complex financial structure that will undermine the financing of upstream control measures.
As negotiations continue, IPEN urges countries to stand for real health protections and real solutions to the plastics crisis, through meaningful, global obligations to address plastic overproduction and harmful plastic chemicals. Governments must return to the table ready to negotiate a treaty that responds to the clear and overwhelming evidence of harm.
This is the choice: oil industry profits vs. the health of our children and grandchildren.