During INC-5, WWF provides a daily newsletter with updates on the negotiations, news, announcements and press conferences. WWF has experts from a range of different countries and themes who are available for interviews and briefings.
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NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE
The global community has descended on Busan, a city immortalised by the hit zombie apocalypse movie Train to Busan, for the fifth and final negotiations to establish a global plastic pollution treaty, known as INC-5. In the movie, survivors of a zombie apocalypse flee on a train headed to Busan for potential refuge from being eaten alive or being turned into one of the undead.
This week, after two back-to-back failed summits on nature and climate, Busan needs to be a refuge from further nature and climate inaction. With some negotiators coming off straight from stints on the nature COP (or COP16) and the climate COP (or COP29), we are seeing more than a few weary, bleary-eyed individuals, looking not that much unlike the movie’s zombies. The question is will they let the disappointment of those COPs infect INC-5 or are they dogged heroes who, even when faced with the despair of increasing (nature and climate) annihilation, will persevere to create a safe refuge for humanity in the guise of a global treaty that will end plastic pollution? We’ll know in about a week’s time if the negotiations in Busan turn out to be the landmark win we know 2024 needs.
WWF has reason to be optimistic.
We know that for the treaty to be effective, governments must include in the treaty explicit text to ban and phase out the most harmful plastic products and chemicals of concern; mandatory product design requirements to ensure remaining products are safe and easy to reuse and recycle; identify the level of funding that governments need to commit and how such resources will be disbursed; and mechanisms for strengthening the treaty over time. More than 100 countries have expressed support for all of these elements, providing a clear pathway for agreement and inclusion in the final text.
In the coming days, WWF will continue to report on the progress of where countries stand and how negotiations are unfolding. Progress will be rated daily for each element we described above as:
Green (on track towards strong text for an ambitious treaty)
Yellow (on track towards strong text, but slow progress)
Orange (heading in a counterproductive direction)
Red (regressing, on track towards weak treaty text)
The rating will be based on an assessment of two factors:
The overall ambition level of the treaty text (or the combination of all available proposals submitted and being negotiated) on each of the elements. Rating will consider whether the draft text is aligning more towards the achievement of an ambitious treaty, or in the opposite direction;
The overall process of negotiation: whether the text is being more streamlined towards clean text for approval, or faces blockage and challenges in the negotiation.
For more information, do read our daily policy bulletin here.
UPDATES
Meeting - Hear from GACERE about approaches to product design and their latest brief “Circular Design of Plastic Products”. 26 November, 0900-1000 (Korea time), 323, 3rd floor, BEXCO, Busan.
At a WWF event discussing solutions for ending plastic pollution, child activist Hannah Kim, 8, who successfully waged a two-year long climate suit against the Republic of Korea’s government for failing to protect the rights of future generations and passing an excessive burden to them, had this to say:
“You can decide whether to save countless lives, including our own, or trade our lives for plastic. We have a giant island of plastic in front of our eyes and microplastics in our lungs. Your actions today can and will change our lives. Be sure to complete your pledge to address the entire lifecycle of plastic - including production. That’s what national delegates should do right now.”
Commenting on almost three million people from over 180 countries signing a petition demanding a strong legally binding global plastic pollution treaty, Eirik Lindebjerg, WWF Head of Delegation to INC-5 and Global Plastics Policy Lead, said:
"These signatures reinforce what is already commonly known - that a legally binding global treaty that regulates plastics across the entire lifecycle and eliminates harmful plastic products and chemicals is the only way our leaders can deliver on their promise to end plastic pollution. We simply cannot achieve this goal through fragmented and voluntary actions which have dominated our collective response for so many years. At INC-5, governments can and must create the treaty people are demanding, one which decisively and definitely protects people and nature now and for generations to come.”
Commenting on what it would take to get a legally binding global plastic pollution treaty, Erin Simon, Vice President and Head of Plastic Waste and Business, WWF-US said:
“We’re at a pivotal moment. Our last best chance to forge an agreement that could end the flow of plastic into nature is within reach, but only if countries come to the negotiating table with a clear vision and determination to get the job done. From my viewpoint, a majority of counties are showing the type of leadership that is needed to finalize an agreement the planet deserves. If early signals of political will continue and countries are able to stave off the temptation to kick the can down the road then I could see us leaving these talks with a legally binding agreement that ensures nature and people win."
NEED INTERVIEWS?
We know treaty negotiations can sometimes prove difficult to follow. Whether you need clarification on treaty details, expert analysis on plastic pollution issues, or simply someone to take you through the day's events, we have you covered. Contact fselamat@wwfint.org or news@wwfint.org if you'd like to speak with our experts:
Eirik Lindebjerg, Head of INC-5 Delegation & Global Plastics Policy Lead, WWF
Prasanna De Silva, Executive Director - Country Offices, WWF
John Duncan, No Plastics in Nature Initiative Lead, WWF & Co-Lead of the Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty
Zaynab Sadan, Regional Plastics Policy Advisor for Africa, WWF
Erin Simon, Vice President & Head, Plastic Waste and Business
Marilyn Mercado, Regional Plastics Policy Advisor for Asia, WWF
Maria Alejandra Gonzalez, Regional Plastics Policy Advisor for Latin America, WWF
Florian Titze, Regional Plastics Policy Advisor for Europe, WWF
Kate Noble, Regional Plastics Policy Advisor for Oceania and the Pacific, WWF
