Global Plastics Treaty

The meeting was held to prepare for the work of the first intergovernmental negotiating committee to end plastic pollution.

Read the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s report on this multi-stakeholder forum (click here).

Information and knowledge exchange forum between different sectors of the plastics life cycle to aid the treaty negotiations and ensure its objectives are firmly founded in the latest available science plastics and plastic pollution.

Read the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s report on this multi-stakeholder forum (click here).

In the 1st INC, several aspects of the new plastics treaty were discussed, including potential structure and elements of the treaty. Any outputs from the multi-stakeholder forum of 26th Nov 2022 were summarised. Further actions and intersessional work along with further information of the coming INCs will be drafted. 

Read the Earth Negotiations Bulletin’s summary report (click here). On their site you can also find more detailed daily reports for this INC.

The second INC is preceded by these regional consultations.

INC-1 saw the call for stakeholder and member submissions on the potential elements for the treaty. Along with dozens of other observers with a tight deadline, the team at the Global Plastics Policy Centre put together an information document. These pre-session documents will inform the delegates during INC, and guide the negotiations around the treaty elements at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

Read our submission and our first policy brief of our Global Plastics Treaty Policy Brief series below, and for submissions from many more stakeholders, observers and member states, see Pre-Session Documents at the event website.

See the provisional programme of the INC-2 here.

This is a collaboration involving the University of Portsmouth, Theatre for Development specialist Matthew Hahn, GRID-Arendal, the Social Justice Centre Travelling Theatre, and the Kenyan National Waste Pickers Welfare Association. With the participation of 12 waste pickers from Kenya, we have developed a piece of legislative theatre that aims to raise awareness about the challenges confronted by waste pickers and underscore the significance of just transition as part of the global treaty to end plastic pollution. Furthermore, it provides a platform for deliberating on a fair and equitable path forward. The performance offers a unique opportunity to interact with waste pickers and gain insights into the daily challenges they encounter. Subsequent to the performance, there will be an opportunity for delegates and waste pickers to engage in meaningful dialogue and share their valuable insights.

INC-2 decided for a preparatory day to be organised prior to INC-3 to discuss the synthesis report of the Member States’ written submissions to INC-3. This preparatory day will be held at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

The third round of  negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty will be held at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. This INC will likely see great development of the Zero Draft text produced by the INC Chair after INC-2 in Paris. As always, our team on the ground will be writing a summary blog of the INC-3 with key points after the meeting. Keep an eye out for the blog here.

The session is preceded by a preparatory one-day meeting on 11 November, and by regional consultations on 12 November at the same location.

The theme for UNEA-6 will be “Effective, inclusive and sustainable multilateral actions to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution”.

Regarding the Treaty, a progress report by the Executive Director of UNEP, Inger Andersen, on the UNEA Resolution 5/14 to develop a Plastic Treaty will be discussed, along with the progress of other UNEA resolutions.

The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), is scheduled to take place at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, Canada, within the period 21 to 30 April 2024 inclusive of one day for regional consultations. The negotiations will now by aided by the revised Zero Draft published by the Secretariat on 28 December, 2023.

The registration deadline for INC-4 is 26 February, 2024.

The first part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.1), took place in Busan, Republic of Korea, within the period 25 November to 1 December 2024 inclusive of one day for regional consultations. The negotiations were aided by the Chair’s non-paper, published by the Secretariat on 1 December, 2024.

The session will be preceded by regional consultations on 4 August 2025.  Additional session information will become available in due course on the INC-5.2 web page.

These dates and locations are provisional. Exact dates, location and provisional agenda as well as related stakeholder or regional consultations will be updated on this timeline as soon as they are made public.