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Divisions between countries have stalled negotiations on the world’s first treaty to tackle plastic pollution, after a terse week of talks in South Korea’s Busan.
Here are some of the sticking points that led to a decision early Monday to resume discussions at a later date after negotiators were unable to strike a deal:
The 2022 resolution that kicked off two years of negotiations called for a treaty that would “promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics”.
But what that means has proved a key point of disagreement.
Dozens of nations want the deal to mandate a reduction of new plastic production, and there have been calls to phase out “unnecessary” items such as some single-use plastics.
“Mopping the floor when the tap is open is useless,” said Anthony Agotha, the EU’s special envoy for climate and environment.
But others, led by some oil-producing states like Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia, have pushed back against any binding reduction call.
“The objective of this treaty is to end plastic pollution, not plastic itself. Plastic has brought immense benefit to societies worldwide,” Kuwait’s delegate said Sunday.
An alliance led by Rwanda and Norway pushing for specific measures on production, the High Ambition Coalition (HAC), is also seeking controls on so-called chemicals of concern.
