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Ministers,
We are gathered here today because we all understand the impacts of plastic pollution. And because we have a promise to keep. A legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution.
Plastic leakage to the environment is predicted to grow 50 per cent by 2040. The cost of damages from plastic pollution are predicted to rise as high as a cumulative US$281 trillion between 2016 and 2040. We are talking about lost-income from tourism, beaches that need cleaned up, contaminated rivers, fisher-folk who are increasingly catching little more than plastic bottles and bags.
New science on the health risks of plastic pollution is emerging all the time – particularly on microplastics. In this room, there are countless such tiny particles circulating in our bloodstreams. We still do not know exactly what these microplastics are doing to our bodies, but we know that they do not belong there.
And, just as health risks are growing, so are risks to businesses. Consumers, shareholders and markets are beginning to move. Consumers will continue to vote with their dollars, euros and shillings. Markets will move faster. Companies that cleave to old models will be left behind.
Ministers,
The solution to this wave of plastic pollution is within reach. After two years of negotiations on an instrument to end plastic pollution, kickstarted by UNEA resolution 5/14, we are approaching what we hope will be a definitive end to the process – the resumed fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, or INC-5.2.
These negotiations have not been easy. Then again, negotiations never are. Each nation comes to the table with their position, based on national contexts. For some, the most important consideration is stopping plastic from washing up on their shores. Others are more concerned about what such an instrument would mean for their industries.
Differences are inevitable. Gathering in common ground requires everyone to move as much as they can. But we can still secure a treaty for the ages, one that takes a full lifecycle approach to protect human, planetary and economic health from plastic pollution.
The first part of INC-5 in Busan, Republic of Korea, moved us forward. A degree of convergence has been reached across the text. However, nothing in the Chair’s Text is agreed until everything is agreed, and three areas require significant work. Additives in plastic products. Sustainable production and consumption. Financing, including a financial mechanism and aligning financial flows.
We have 96 days to go before talks resume here in Geneva. We must strive to close the gaps between positions in these three areas ahead of INC 5.2, instead of leaving all the hard work for August. Members are continuing critical intersessional work, including an upcoming meeting of the Heads of Delegation. To progress, we need to accelerate the political and diplomatic push in the next three months, with the engagement of all stakeholders. Every day counts.
And, ministers, please let me remind you of UNEP’s invitation for you to come to INC 5.2 to help close complex negotiating items. So, we can ensure that the treaty leads to the elimination of plastic pollution, including in the marine environment, and sparks a just transition for all, including waste-pickers.
Ministers,
As this is a member-led process, and we are here today to listen to national viewpoints on divergence and possible convergence, I will not go into detail on the three articles that require further work. But please do allow me to speak, in broader terms, about what this treaty must do.
Bearing the science in mind, the job of this treaty is to spark big changes.
We need to rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and refill – with a real focus on plastic that ends up in the environment, particularly single-use and short-lived plastics. Reuse can avoid waste and save precious resources.
We need policies on Extended Producer Responsibility and recycling targets. We need increased transparency, traceability and disclosures. We need to invest in environmentally sound waste management and legacy plastic clean-up. We need to put in place funding. Here we need finance, transfer of technology and capacity building – all supporting means of implementation.
And, of relevance to this gathering of the Conferences of the Parties of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, we need to think innovatively on chemical additives in plastic products, where there are health risks – which is critical to plastic product design.
Ministers,
We are getting closer. But we do need that final big push. Over the next three months, we need to build momentum at the highest political level. We need to come together in the middle of the big tent and resolve the divergence in the three outstanding areas. And, at INC-5.2, we must deliver on the vision of the UNEA resolution, listening to the growing global chorus, and agree an instrument that spells the end for plastic pollution.
