Historically, most United Nations agreements have been reached by consensus. But based on recent events, this no longer seems likely for achieving a fully effective global treaty on plastic pollution, according to many analysts. The fifth resumed session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5.2) will take place Aug. 5-14 in Geneva, Switzerland. The impending summit’s outcome remains highly uncertain, with two groups of countries holding strongly opposing views on the agreement’s scope: The High Ambition Coalition, along with other nations, totaling 106 member states, is seeking a binding treaty with global caps on plastics production and a ban of the most toxic chemicals used in plastics. The so-called “Like-minded countries” (Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, India) and other countries, including Brazil and the United States, want a voluntary treaty focused only on waste management, especially recycling. Treaty negotiations began hopefully in 2022 and were scheduled to conclude with a final document by 2024 following UNEA Resolution 5/14. But at each new session, oil- and plastic-producing countries (including Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, Iran, India, and Brazil) exploited unresolved procedural rules to delay negotiations, used obstructionist tactics to slow down progress and insisted on consensus for all decisions — effectively vetoing majority agreements, observers of the U.N. process say. Tired of the lack of progress in negotiations, on Dec. 1, 2024, the last day of INC-5.1, more than 100 countries came together at a press conference as a coalition of the willing, declaring “No treaty is better than a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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