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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/07/more-than-200-lobbyists-at-uns-plastic-treaty-talks-will-limit-progress-campaigners-warn>
"More than 200 industry lobbyists are attending the UN’s meeting to hammer out
a global plastics treaty, raising fears that moves to prevent runaway plastic
production may be undermined.
The 234 lobbyists from the oil, petrochemical and plastics industries outnumber
the combined delegations of all 27 EU member states, and far exceed the number
of people attending with the delegation of scientists as well as Indigenous
peoples at the Geneva talks.
The analysis, from the Centre for International Environmental Law (Ciel), also
found 19 lobbyists sit on the national delegations of Egypt, Kazakhstan, China,
Iran, Chile and the Dominican Republic.
“Fossil fuel companies are central to plastic production, as over 99% of
plastics are derived from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels,” said Ximena
Banegas, Ciel’s global plastics and petrochemicals campaigner. “After decades
of obstruction in the climate negotiations, why would anyone think that they
would suddenly show up in good faith in the plastics treaty talks?”
The figure was revealed on day three of a two-week resumed meeting to achieve
an agreement on the vast global problem of runaway plastic production and
waste. The numbers of lobbyists attending the talks has been rising steadily
since the process started in 2022, alongside deepening rifts between nations.
Negotiations stalled at what was supposed to be the fifth and final round of
talks in Busan, South Korea, in December last year. The process was extended to
the current round in Switzerland to give nations another chance to agree on a
deal. Tensions have flared around key aspects of the proposed treaty, including
calls for a production limit on plastics, managing harmful chemicals in
plastics, and how the treaty’s implementation will be financed, with countries
splitting into increasingly divergent camps.
On the one hand is a cohort of more than 100 nations that say they want an
ambitious treaty including, among other things, global targets to reduce
plastic production. On the other is a small group of oil and plastic-producing
states including Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran – the so-called “like-minded
group” – that reject production limits and want the treaty to focus on
downstream measures to tackle waste.
Three days into negotiations, these separate camps seem to be further
entrenched, with the United States appearing to side with the industry-friendly
“like-minded group”.
“They’re basically going full Maga,” said a source close to the talks. “They’re
clearly coordinating with Saudi Arabia, Russia and others, because they’re
using the same language.” Before the meeting in Geneva, the US reportedly
circulated a memo among countries where it openly took a stance against
production cuts. The US is the world’s second-largest plastic producer and yet
last year said it supported production cuts.
The source also noted that the US delegation usually met environmental NGOs,
scientists and industry before the talks begin, but that before the Geneva
meeting they had met with industry alone.
“Even under a Democratic administration, the US is incredibly
industry-friendly, but it at least goes through the motions of consulting with
its own citizenry,” they said. “That charade is gone now.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
