Starting from 25 November 2024, more than 170 countries will converge in Busan, Republic of Korea, to negotiate a new legally binding global treaty to end plastic pollution, including marine pollution. This is the fifth (and final) round of talks since 2022, when the UN Environmental Assembly (UNEA) agreed to develop such a by the end of 2024.

Why is a global plastic treaty required?

• Owing to its adaptable properties and versatile use, plastic has become almost indispensable for humans. As a result, plastic production has skyrocketed across the world in recent decades.
• The annual global production of plastic doubled from 234 million tonnes (mt) in 2000 to 460 mt in 2019. Nearly half of this was produced in Asia, followed by North America (19%) and Europe (15%). Plastic production is expected to touch 700 mt by 2040, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• This has led to a crisis as plastic takes anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, and less than 10% has been recycled till now, according to a 2023 study published by The Lancet. About 400 mt of plastic waste is generated annually, a figure expected to jump by 62% between 2024 and 2050.
• Much of the plastic waste leaks into the environment, especially into rivers and oceans, where it breaks down into smaller particles (microplastic or nanoplastic). This has severely impacted the environment and health of living beings.
• Scientific studies submitted to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have found that exposure to chemicals in plastic can cause endocrine disruption and a range of human diseases including cancer, diabetes, reproductive disorders, and neurodevelopmental impairment. Plastic also harms species inhabiting marine, freshwater, and land ecosystems.
• Plastic contributes to climate change as well. In 2020, it generated 3.6% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with 90% of those quantifiable emissions coming from plastic production, which uses fossil fuels as raw material. The remaining 10% of emissions were released during plastic waste management and treatment. If current trends continue, emissions from the production could grow 20% by 2050, a recent report from the United States’ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said.
• India contributes to a fifth of global plastic pollution, according to a study published in the journal Nature in September. It accounts for 20% of the world’s global plastic pollution with emissions of 9.3 mt, which is significantly more than the countries next in the list — Nigeria (3.5 mt), Indonesia (3.4 mt) and China (2.8 mt), the study said.

What is on the negotiating table?

• Negotiations primarily pertain to formulating a global set of rules that will address plastic pollution through its life cycle, from fossil-fuel based production, and the challenges of managing plastic disposal and waste. The final rules may also ban “particular types of plastic, plastic products, and chemical additives used in plastics, and set legally binding targets for recycling and recycled content used in consumer goods,” according to a report by the Grist magazine.
• There will be talks on ‘just transition’ for workers and those persons and communities whose livelihoods would be affected by the elimination of certain items and a move away from plastic production. However, countries have been unable to converge on these crucial agenda items and there has been large variance in the positions taken by them.
• For instance, countries have failed to agree on the framing and language of how to proceed with production caps. That is because oil and gas-rich countries, and major petrochemical-producing and plastic-producing nations have opposed negotiations around production caps.
• Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Kuwait, Malaysia, and India have expressed resistance to stricter mandates and have instead proposed downstream measures such as innovative waste management and sustainable plastic use, according to a report by the Centre for Science and Environment.
• On the other hand, Rwanda, Peru and the European Union have proposed ambitious targets for curbing plastic pollution. Rwanda has proposed a 40% reduction target by 2040, with 2025 as the baseline year.
• Countries have also not been able to agree on the subject of finance. The UNEP’s intergovernmental negotiation committee (INC), which is leading the negotiations, noted in the draft text that countries should make efforts to increase the mobilisation of private funding, including alignment of public and private investment and finance to achieve the objectives of any potential treaty.

What is India’s position?

• India has made it clear that it does not support any restrictions on the production of polymers. Any restrictions are beyond the mandate of the UNEA’s resolution adopted at Nairobi in 2022, according to India.
• The country has also sought the inclusion of financial and technical assistance, and technology transfer in the substantive provisions of any final treaty.
• On the exclusion of harmful chemicals used for plastic production, India has said that any decision should be based on scientific studies, and the regulation of such chemicals should be regulated domestically.
• India banned the use of single-use plastics covering 19 categories in 2022. However, the country has said that a decision on the issue of including certain plastic items for phase-out in the final treaty should be “pragmatic” and “regulation should be nationally driven taking into account national circumstances.”
• For scientific and safe waste management, the country wants a mechanism to be established to assess infrastructural requirements. India has said that there must also be an assessment of the financial resources needed for waste management as well as the availability of adequate, timely, and predictable financial resources.