International Treaty on Plastic Pollution: Negotiations on Development

The annual flow of plastic into the ocean is predicted to triple between 2016 and 2040 and is already having a devastating impact on our natural environment. We urgently need to take action at all levels on plastic pollution, in all its forms. That is why the UK is tackling the issue both internationally and at home.

Today marks the start of the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, established by a landmark decision taken at the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022.

At the negotiations, the Government will press for a combination of international obligations and national measures across the whole plastic lifecycle to ensure that the treaty can adequately address the transboundary nature of plastic pollution. We will call for provisions to: restrain and reduce the production and consumption of plastic to sustainable levels; address plastic design; and increase the safe circularity of plastics in the economy, guided by the waste hierarchy. We will support measures to manage plastic waste in an environmentally sound and safe manner and eliminate the release of plastics—including microplastics—into air, water and land.

As one of the founding members of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, a group of like-minded countries calling for an ambitious and effective treaty, the UK has signed the High Ambition Coalition joint ministerial statement which echoes these calls.

We are committed to working with other member states to build consensus, calling for a Chair’s mandate to develop further the treaty text, supported by a formal intersessional programme of work, to lay the foundation for a successful outcome from the two remaining negotiating sessions in 2024.

[HCWS31]