Portsmouth student attending UN meetings to negotiate a new global law on plastic pollution

PhD student, Sam Winton, is heading to Busan in South Korea this week to observe the United Nations’ (UN) negotiations for a new global treaty on plastic pollution.

Governments from around the world will gather from 25 November–1 December 2024, to discuss new global rules to address the growing environmental problem and health hazard of plastic pollution.
 

An inside view on world-changing negotiations

The University of Portsmouth is able to send a delegation to these meetings as an accredited observer. Sam will join colleagues from the University’s Revolution Plastics Institute in Busan as part of his research, which is following the development and outcomes of the global plastics treaty through a joint PhD at the University of Portsmouth and the University of Surrey. 

What is the global plastics treaty?

The UN has been taking steps to address plastic pollution for almost a decade. In March 2022, 175 nations agreed to develop a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution by the end of 2024. 

The process is nearing completion. The upcoming International Negotiating Committee (INC) is the fifth and final meeting (known as INC-5) to discuss and agree on the details of the new treaty, which might include bans of single-use plastic products, restrictions on environmentally damaging plastic polymers and chemicals, and new requirements for product design and waste management. 

Why is a global plastics treaty needed?

Decades of unsustainable consumption and production of plastic has led to a global pollution crisis. Business as usual projections suggest that, by 2060, the use of plastics will triple and plastic leakage to the environment will double. 

Therefore, nations across the world must implement stringent environmental regulations with a coordinated and collaborative approach. Plastic pollution is a cross boundary issue and research has consistently shown that isolated actions such as single-use plastic bans in a single country fail to address the full scale of the problem. Global, co-ordinated action is urgently needed.
 

How did you become interested in studying plastics, and policy in particular?

I began researching plastic pollution when I joined Revolution Plastics in 2019. I initially conducted local research projects, but soon became interested in how policy can be used to tackle the plastic pollution crisis. I recognised that while science is crucial to understanding the problem and developing new technologies to tackle it, good policy is essential to ensure that these actions can be translated into practice. I was fortunate to be entering this field of research at a time when one of the most consequential environmental treaty negotiations since the Paris Climate Agreement was kicking off.

My PhD gives me the opportunity to attend UN negotiations around the world and see first-hand the development of a global agreement that will shape our relationship with one of the most pervasive pollutants in the world. This is an incredible opportunity and one which I could not turn down.
 

What has your research involved so far?

Since starting my PhD in October 2023, I have attended INC-3 in Nairobi, Kenya and INC-4 in Ottawa, Canada. This has been fundamental to my research in which I'll be assessing how the implementation of the treaty process has influenced its outcome. I am now preparing to collect data for my project, which will consist of interviews with representatives from stakeholder groups, ranging from negotiators to NGOs, to gather their perspectives on the treaty negotiations.
 

What impact do you hope your research will have?

As we move into the early years of treaty implementation it will be critically important that countries use evidence-based analysis to develop and improve the treaty text, fixing any holes in the treaty and improving its efficiency. My PhD will contribute to a body of research that will provide this evidence. I also seek to identify key lessons from the implementation of this treaty to improve other environmental negotiations in the future.
 

What are the next steps in the plastics treaty process?

On 25 November 2024 nations will meet for INC-5 in Busan, South Korea. This is a crucial meeting as, for the first time, countries will need to make decisions about the content of the treaty, such as: 

• Will there be a cap on plastic production? 
• Will developed countries who have contributed most to the plastic pollution crisis be required to bear more of the burden to fix it? 
• Will countries take the opportunity to ensure that a Just Transition is enshrined in the text?

If the meeting is a success, the meeting will conclude with a treaty text that can be opened for signatories in the summer of 2025. Following this, we will start to see the requirements of the treaty being implemented at a national and regional level.
 

What are your hopes and fears for the final global plastics treaty?

Throughout the negotiations so far there has been more disagreement than consensus among members, so strong leadership and diplomacy will be needed to ensure the questions above are answered. Otherwise there is a real risk that the final treaty will lack the key ingredients required for success.

Firstly, there is significant disagreement about whether the treaty should include upstream measures, such as caps on the production of plastic products, or if it should be restricted to improved waste management. Research consistently shows that upstream measures will be imperative to the treaty's success.

While this will be a global treaty, implementation will be handled at a national and/or regional level. A legally binding treaty could be a major success, but many countries are pushing for measures to be voluntary, similar to the Paris Agreement on climate. History has consistently shown that treaties which are purely voluntary rarely create the scale of change necessary.

There has been consistent discussion about how to create a Just Transition and the opportunity for this treaty to ensure that marginalised communities, such as waste pickers, have their lives significantly improved. The current draft includes text around Just Transition which, despite needing to be strengthened, provides a good basis for development. I sincerely hope that this occurs.

My biggest fear is that a lack of leadership from the countries with the highest ambition will allow those with lower ambition to take control of the final stages of the negotiations, using delay tactics to force an extremely weak treaty. This might be worse than having no treaty at all. It would damage the political momentum which has grown in recent years, with many countries already introducing legislation on plastic pollution. I sincerely hope that the highest ambition countries will support the chair of the negotiations, and that the meeting in Busan concludes with a strong platform for coordinated global action on plastic pollution.
 

INC-5 will take place from 25 November–1 December in Busan, South Korea. Sam will provide an insider’s view of the negotiations through a series of blogs for the University of Portsmouth’s Global Plastics Policy Centre. 

Follow the Revolution Plastics Institute on X for all the latest updates.