Initial Reactions to Chair of the Intergovernmental

Initial Reactions to Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee’s Third Non-Paper On October 29, 2024, the Chair of the intergovernmental negotiating committee tasked with developing the text of the future plastics treaty released the third ‘non-paper’ and distributed it to delegates. [...] According to the document, the ‘non-paper’ “aims to assist our collective efforts to negotiate a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution” and is proposed as the basis of the upcoming negotiation at the fifth session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC-5) in Busan, Republic of Korea. [...] Additional points that ought to be incorporated into the preamble include: the detrimental impact of subsidies for the production of primary plastics polymers, the exacerbation of plastic pollution through trade in plastics, and the need to avoid regrettable substitutes. [...] Conference of the Parties, including the Ability to Establish Subsidiary Groups The proposed text for the COP to adopt its rules of procedure by consensus at its first meeting will inevitably lead to paralysis in the implementation phase, similar to what is happening in the climate space, including in relation to mobilizing funding. [...] It is critical to modify that proposed text to follow the approach adopted during the recent Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) negotiation.