Shared Responsibility

Why the European Union and China should collaborate on plastic production controls in the Global Plastics Treaty.

While negotiations towards a new legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution have advanced substantially since the first Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) session in 2022, several critical elements essential for achieving the objectives of UNEA resolution 5/14 remain legally, procedurally and politically unresolved.

Central to this is the issue of addressing primary, or virgin, plastic production. To that end, many stakeholders and governments in the process have rallied around the call to bend the curve of plastic production in order to facilitate effective measures downstream.

While many developing countries and economies in transition have led the charge on measures to reduce production, several key developed countries have also given their support, culminating in 103 countries supporting text proposals for an article on the supply of primary plastic polymers at INC 5.1.1 While the scope and structure of such a provision remains uncertain, undoubtedly the issue remains central to the framing of all measures across the plastics lifecycle.