Countries have failed to reach an agreement to stem plastic pollution after a small number of oil-rich nations resisted efforts to limit production.
The negotiations, held last week in Busan, South Korea, aimed to produce a legally binding U.N. treaty on plastic pollution, but negotiations collapsed early Monday, with countries agreeing to resume talks at a later date.
“It is clear that divergence persists,” said Inger Andersen, head of the U.N. Environment Programme. “Getting this right is critical. And so, our work will continue.”
Any agreement must be arrived at by consensus, effectively giving every nation veto power. That’s how oil producers, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, blocked a push by 100 countries to cap production. “What we saw in Busan was a weaponization of consensus by a small number of countries to stall progress and undermine the negotiations,” said David Azoulay, of the Center for International Environmental Law.
For oil-rich countries, the incentives are clear. Plastics promise to keep demand for oil aloft even as electric vehicles curb the consumption of gasoline. The International Energy Agency projects that petrochemical demand will continue to grow through the end of this decade even as fuel demand drops off.
The failed negotiations come as researchers increasingly find that plastic pollution has penetrated every corner of the planet. Tiny particles of plastic, no larger than a grain of sand, have been found from the bottom of the sea to the clouds overhead, as well as throughout the human body. Without efforts to stem the use of plastic, production could triple by 2060.
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