New Global Plastics Treaty ‘Aid To Negotiations’ risks watering down ambition to irrelevance

LONDON: One year on from the collapse of formal negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty in Geneva, the new Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, Julio Cordono, has released an ‘Aid to Negotiations’ to push the process forward – but campaigners from the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) fear it could instead bend any resulting treaty to the lowest common denominator.

Presented as an informal reference document rather than a negotiated text, the document arrived after months of informal and closed-door talks aimed at breaking the political deadlock and is intended to support negotiations going forward.

In his accompanying note, the Chair confirms he has not included the bridging ideas countries put forward in recent Heads of Delegation (HOD) meetings, so it remains unclear how these will be dealt with. Civil society organisations have not been granted access to the recent talks.

The Aid to Negotiations comes ahead of further closed meetings in Bangkok from 27-30 September 2026 and the resumption of formal negotiations at INC-5.4 in March 2027.

But campaigners from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), who have closely followed the negotiations since their inception, are sceptical as to the value of the new document.

EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon said: “The Chair has described this as a ‘no surprises’ document. In that sense, it delivers exactly what many feared – a retreat from the level of ambition needed to end plastic pollution.

“One year after countries rejected a weak outcome in Geneva, they are now being presented with much the same level of ambition, repackaged as progress. Key measures that could tackle the problem at its source remain diluted, deferred or dropped altogether and new proposals remain totally absent.

“Ultimately, the world needs a treaty that bends the curve on plastic production and pollution, not one that bends to the lowest common denominator.”

EIA Legal and Policy Specialist Amy Youngman said: “High- and low-ambition countries agreed on one thing in Geneva – this text could not carry the process forward. The new Chair promised textual clarity but instead weakened a rejected draft, played with the brackets and presented what remains as a document to support negotiations. You cannot gut a treaty of its obligations and pretend you have a successful agreement.

“If the process continues down this path, the new Chair risks being remembered in the history books – not for building consensus, but for locking the world into the plastic pollution crisis these negotiations were created to prevent.”

EIA Ocean Campaigner Hannah Hughes added: “This Aid to Negotiations can feel like revisiting the same draft with a fresh set of brackets. Issues that seemed to be moving towards resolution have been reopened, while important measures have become less clear and, in some cases, less ambitious.

“After four years of talks, governments know that waste management alone will not end plastic pollution. To tackle the crisis at its source, the treaty must include measures to reduce plastic production.”

The plastics team at EIA is available for further comment.

CONTACTS FOR MEDIA

• Christina Dixon, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader, via christinadixon[at]eia-international.org
• Amy Youngman, EIA Legal and Policy Specialist, via amyyoungman[at]eia-international.org
• Paul Newman, EIA UK Senior Press & Communications Officer, via press[at]eia-international.org

EDITORS’ NOTES

1. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuse. Our undercover investigations expose transnational wildlife crime, with a focus on elephants, pangolins and tigers, and forest crimes such as illegal logging and deforestation for cash crops such as palm oil. We work to avert climate catastrophe by investigating the criminal trade in refrigerant gases, strengthening and enforcing regional and international agreements that tackle fossil fuels and climate super-pollutants, including ozone-depleting substances, hydrofluorocarbons and methane, and advocating corporate and policy measures to promote sustainable cooling. We work to safeguard global marine ecosystems by addressing the threats posed by plastic pollution, bycatch and commercial exploitation of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Our findings are used in hard-hitting reports to campaign for new legislation, improved governance and more effective enforcement. Our field experience is used to provide guidance to enforcement agencies and we form partnerships with local groups and activists and support their work through hands-on training.

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