Global plastic treaty negotiations reach deadlock in final days of the INC 5.2
Critical negotiations for a global plastic pollution treaty face deadlock in Geneva as oil-producing states resist production limits, threatening hopes for a meaningful agreement by the 14 August deadline
Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso warned delegates on Saturday that progress has been insufficient. The draft text has expanded from 22 to 35 pages, with unresolved sections rising from 371 to nearly 1,500.
The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) resumed on 5 August and is scheduled until 14 August at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, involving 184 countries working to finalise a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.
The core division centres on whether the treaty should address the full lifecycle of plastics, including production limits, or focus solely on downstream waste management measures. The US has joined Russia, India, Iran, Malaysia and Gulf States in opposing production limits that could threaten their petrochemical industries. This reverses the work of Biden’s administration which supported production caps.
Before the INC 5.2 commenced, the US sent letters urging countries to reject any limits on plastic production and plastic chemical additives. On Thursday, a spokesperson for the State Department said: “The United States supports an agreement that respects national sovereignty and focuses on reducing plastic pollution without imposing onerous restrictions on producers that would harm US companies.”
On Tuesday, the US submitted a formal proposal to amend an article outlining the treaty's objective. The US wants to restrict it to the management of plastic pollution only, despite the universally-adopted United Nations resolution calling for a deal covering the entire life cycle of plastics.
In separate submissions this week, Russia, India, Iran and Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, on behalf of 22 Arab countries, re-stated their rejection of any measures on plastic production, suggesting the relevant article should be struck off the draft treaty text. This stance is opposed by over 100 high-ambition countries who support binding global production phasedown targets for single-use plastics and harmful products and chemicals.
Complex negotiations reveal procedural challenges
A plenary released on 8 August completed a stocktake of the first five days of progress, revealing the extent of disagreements across the treaty's articles. Four contact groups have been working on different articles, with varying degrees of progress.
A key challenge has been addressing Articles 2-6, covering the scope, definitions, plastic products and design. The status report notes that "absolutely no text has been agreed upon any of the articles in our mandate".
Article 3 on problematic plastic products has become a flashpoint, with fundamental debates over whether measures should be voluntary or mandatory, what criteria define "problematic" plastics, and whether to create global lists of banned products. Discussions regarding product design showed some improvement with informal groups finding a "stable basis to start negotiations".
Articles 7-10 covering downstream issues have achieved the most progress. A streamlined version of Article 8 has been produced on plastic waste management, though significant debates continue around transboundary movement of plastic waste and the role of the Basel Convention.
Financial mechanism options emerge as key battleground
Competing options for the treaty's financial mechanism structure has emerged as a critical area of disagreement.
One option proposes creating a "new dedicated independent multilateral fund", and another suggests using the existing Global Environment Facility (GEF). A further two proposed plans are various hybrid models combining both approaches. The ambition and independence of the treaty's funding to support countries in ending plastic pollution represents a key area of negotiations.
Contact Group 4 completed its first reading of the preamble addressing the implementation of the treaty using governance frameworks. However, fundamental disagreements persist on whether provisions should be mandatory or voluntary, including debates over national plans, reporting frequency, and the level of detail required from parties.
Civil society organisations demand action
Civil society organisations at INC-5.2 have united to demand greater action as the pace of progress risks failure. In a joint statement released by WWF on 8 August, groups representing waste pickers, frontline communities, scientists, healthcare professionals and businesses called on governments to "fix the process, keep your promise, and finalise a meaningful treaty to end plastic pollution."
The statement declared: "Four days into the final Global Plastics Treaty negotiations, we are not on track to deliver a treaty that will protect people and nature. Enough is enough; something must change."
WWF's Global Plastics Policy Lead, Zaynab Sadan, highlighted the urgency of the situation: "It has been 250 days since the negotiations should have ended in Busan. In that time more than 7,000,000 tonnes of plastics have poured into our oceans."
Sadam warned delegates that their choices would have lasting consequences: "What they choose to protect or to ignore will have an impact on generations to come. The world will look back at this moment and remember this choice. Courage, over compromise."
WWF's daily tracking of the negotiations using a traffic-light assessment system shows most core elements heading in a "counterproductive direction," with their latest bulletin noting "the text is not where it needs to be".
The Plastics Pact Network, convened by WRAP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, already delivers treaty-aligned progress in over a dozen countries. The Network is eliminating problematic plastics, scaling reuse models, and building circular systems tailored to local circumstances. They are hosting a side event during the INC-5.2 to spotlight their results with representatives from Chile and the Pacific Islands.
The Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, representing over 280 companies and organisations, issued a stark warning at the midpoint of talks: "At the midpoint of INC-5.2, negotiations are running out of time, with no clear path to an agreement. The current approach is not delivering the progress we need to reach a meaningful outcome by the end of next week".
Juan Carlos Monterrey-Gomez, Panama's special representative for climate change, said his country would reject a treaty that only deals with waste management, stating "The worst outcome here for Panama is not disagreement…it is an agreement so weak that it would change nothing".
On Saturday, Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso alerted delegates that "August 14 is not just a deadline for our work: it is a date by which we must deliver".
