a new round of negotiations in Canada towards a treaty to end plastic pollution

Will an agreement be reached at the end of the year? Negotiations for a legally binding treaty against plastic pollution begin in Canada. The ministers concerned, including that of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu for the French, will meet on the weekend of April 20 and 21 in Ottawa before the formal start of the fourth round of negotiations on Tuesday.

The principle of a legally binding treaty was agreed in February 2022 in Nairobi. To now decide on its content, a fourth session of negotiations must be held from Tuesday April 23 to Monday April 29 in Canada.

Oppositions between two camps

Two camps are opposed in these negotiations, on the one hand the so-called “high ambition” coalition, notably France, Germany and Senegal. She is campaigning to put an end to plastic pollution by 2040. But opposite, there is the coalition for the “sustainability” of plastics with countries like Russia, Gulf countries, India and Brazil which have tendency to slow down discussions to protect for some the activities of their petrochemical industry at the source of plastic.

The last negotiating session in November in Kenya did not result in major progress. A first draft was able to be written but with no major constraints or quantified objectives. French negotiators therefore hope to achieve a more operational text to reduce plastic production.

This pollution is now estimated at 460 million tonnes per year, twice as much as twenty years ago. After Ottawa, the fifth and final negotiation session to conclude the talks will take place in Busan, South Korea from November 25 to December 1, 2024.