• The final U.N. meeting in South Korea aims to secure a global treaty to curb plastic pollution.
• INC Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso is holding informal meetings to tackle divisive issues like curbing plastic products and managing primary polymers.
• Over 170 nations are in Busan, South Korea, to finalize a draft text for a legally binding plastics treaty.
• Amidst climate change and political unrest, nations are negotiating solutions, emphasizing the need for cooperation and swift action.

As the deadline for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution looms, negotiators are striving to speed up the sluggish proceedings. The final U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting, hosted by South Korea, is the last chance to agree on globally binding rules on plastics.

However, the slow pace of the talks has been a source of frustration for many of the delegates from the 175 participating countries. Disagreements over procedure and multiple proposals have led to some negotiations even returning to ground covered in the past.

In an attempt to expedite the process, INC Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso is holding informal meetings to tackle the most divisive issues. These include curbing plastic products and chemicals of concern, managing the supply of primary polymers, and establishing a financial mechanism to help developing countries implement the treaty. However, petrochemical-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia strongly oppose efforts to cap plastic production, despite protests from countries that bear the brunt of plastic pollution, such as low- and middle-income nations.

While the petrochemical industry supports an international treaty, it has urged governments to avoid setting mandatory plastic production caps and instead focus on solutions to reduce plastic waste, like recycling. The INC plans to hold an open plenary session that will provide an indication of how close the talks have moved towards a treaty.

Global Response to Plastic Pollution

Meanwhile, delegates from more than 170 nations are gathered in Busan, South Korea, to hammer out the details of what could become the world's first treaty to end plastic pollution. The fifth and final session of the talks, known as the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5), aims to finalize a draft text for a legally binding plastics treaty. The proposed agreement could address plastics from production to disposal - an ambitious goal that has exposed deep divides among nations.

The talks in South Korea, starting just days after the UN's climate summit in Azerbaijan, have the enormous task of addressing the scourge of plastic pollution that is suffocating ecosystems, infiltrating food chains, and posing serious risks to human health. "This really is a once-in-a-generation opportunity," said Graham Forbes, Global Plastics Project Leader at Greenpeace USA.

However, the chances of a breakthrough appear slim due to divisions among the participating countries. The first INC took place in Uruguay in 2022, followed by the second session in France in 2023 and the third session in Kenya in the same year. Canada hosted the fourth session in April 2024. The INC-5 began with an opening ceremony featuring congratulatory speeches delivered by Environment Minister Kim Wan-sup and the executive director of the UN Environment Program, Inger Andersen.

Climate Change and Political Unrest

In the realm of climate change, the new collective quantified goal (NCQG) target of US$300 billion by 2035 is too low compared to the needs, and the horizon of meeting the target is too far, climate experts said in a press conference. The finance decision aims to promote the private sector as a major contributor to climate finance, which risks profit-oriented instruments, predominantly loans, and other neoliberal financial instruments, which could undermine climate justice.

In the Georgian capital Tbilisi, police clashed with protesters after the country's ruling party said the government would suspend talks on European Union accession and refuse budgetary grants until 2028. Georgia's relations with the EU have deteriorated sharply in recent months as Brussels has alleged that the government had resorted to authoritarian measures and adopted pro-Russian stands. Thousands of pro-EU protesters had blocked streets in the capital before the altercations began. The country's figurehead president accused the government of declaring "war" on its own people and confronted riot police, asking whether they served Georgia or Russia.

In Colombia, at the UN COP16 biodiversity talks, a coalition with 20 other countries was launched seeking to make peace with nature, as leaders warned that the rapid destruction of the environment risks humanity's own extinction. The coalition includes countries from four continents including Mexico, Sweden, Uganda and Chile, although none from Asia-Pacific. That includes marshalling money toward conservation and sustainable development, cooperating internationally and mobilising all of their society toward preserving nature.

At the opening of Tuesday's COP16 meeting with six presidents and more than 100 government ministers, leaders warned that by destroying nature, humanity is killing itself. We are beginning the era of human extinction. I do not think I am exaggerating, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said.