The global plastics treaty can be saved — here’s how to break the deadlock

Plastic pollution is a scourge of land and seas, and has reached Earth’s remotest regions1. Failure to deal with it could mean exposing ecosystems and people to harmful microplastics, nanoplastics and chemicals2 for centuries. Transported globally, including by rivers and the wind2, plastics are intertwined with issues around equity and justice. Many of the communities that are most harmed by plastic pollution, for instance, are those that are least responsible for producing it3 (see ‘A giant problem’).

Plastics’ persistence over time, ability to cross borders and impacts on climate change demand international regulation. Production alone is responsible for around 5% (2.24 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) of global greenhouse-gas emissions, compared with the 1.4% (0.6 GtCO2) of emissions that stem from aviation4. In recognition of this, in March 2022, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the organization’s highest environmental decision-making body, established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to develop a global treaty to end plastic pollution, including in the ocean.