All plastics, whether used once or for a long time, contribute to an increase in the amount of micro- and nano-plastics, thereby forming a "time bomb" left to future generations. This pollution bomb will explode on its own if the world doesn't act hard enough now.
Seven years after the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), Paris has once again become the center of world environmental diplomacy.
More than 1.000 delegates from 175 countries and 3.000 representatives from NGOs, industry and academia were present at UNESCO headquarters from May 29 to June 5 to carry out a mission full of ambitious but also very difficult: negotiate towards a legally binding multilateral agreement on “ending plastic pollution” by the end of 2. This is considered the most important global agreement since after the Paris Agreement on climate change 6.
After five "arduous" days, the negotiators finally adopted a resolution at the plenary session that ended late at night on June 5, according to which the "International Negotiating Committee (INC) requested The Chairman of the Committee, with the assistance of the secretariat, developed a first draft version of the legally binding international treaty” shortly after the conference.
Plastic waste overflows in Lahore, Pakistan. Documentary photo: AFP/VNA
According to the resolution, the draft text will be considered at the third meeting of the INC in Kenya in November. After that, the next round of negotiations will take place in Canada in April 11 and conclude with a formal agreement in Korea by the end of 4.
Thus, it is difficult to say that the second round of negotiations on ending global plastic pollution in Paris is a success. Looking back at the conference, the negotiators were only able to get to the point after the first two days of being bogged down in the issue of rules of procedure through the adoption of a future draft agreement. Until the last minute, 175 countries had not found a common voice on the issue of whether to adopt a two-thirds majority vote when a consensus could not be found.
Still, there is encouraging progress. While it could not lead to a major text, the conference at least helped to delineate differences and clarify positions each participant might be willing to accept. It also lays the groundwork for a draft text that is expected to last six months before the third round of negotiations in Kenya.
It is worth mentioning that this time, the "high ambition alliance" has been strengthened with the participation of 58 countries chaired by Norway and Rwanda, including members of the European Union (EU), Canada, Mexico, Australia and Japan… In contrast, Paris also shows the formation of a bloc of nations that slows down the progress of the discussions. That is the block of oil and gas and plastic production, among them are Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, the US, China, India, Russia and Brazil.
The two blocs have different, even contradictory, visions of global solutions to plastic pollution, forming two camps that follow two trends: the side of countries that want to protect a system that is bound to the world. a two-thirds majority and the opposition wants to impose consensus rules like the Paris Agreement on climate change. Or the faction of the "willing" countries that want the world to reduce production according to the new model and the side of the "reluctant" countries that just want to recycle to reduce plastic pollution.
With what has happened, the negotiation process seems to be still in its infancy, while the most thorny issues are related to the control of production, consumption, use, recycling and financial obligations. … still waiting for the remaining 3 rounds. It will be a real battle of opinion between states, NGOs, scientists and lobbyists alike.
French Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu said that the challenge for the upcoming negotiations is huge and the most important thing is to reach a binding treaty, fully equipped with the means. implemented and established a specialized plastic body, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). And all countries, industrialists have an obligation to reduce plastic production before thinking about solutions to increase recycling.
In fact, it is not easy to convince the bloc of oil, gas and plastics producing countries to abandon the intention of "seeing a treaty text with moderate ambition". Dorothée Moisan, a French journalist specializing in environmental issues, said the plastic industry is closely linked to the oil, gas and coal industries. With an estimated $XNUMX trillion in annual sales, plastic is the lifeline of the petrochemical industry.
Normally a barrel of oil today can extract about 10% of plastic, but in fact there are technologies that allow extraction of 40% or even 80%. Profits from plastic make most manufacturers want to continue the current trend, which is to increase production steadily each year, doubling from 2000 to 2019 and likely to triple by 2060, regardless This mass will engulf the planet in plastic waste.
If plastic production has to be scaled down, oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries, or big plastic-producing countries like China, will lose a huge source of revenue. Last March, Saudi Aramco announced a $3 billion investment to develop a giant petrochemical complex in China. At the end of 3,6, the company also signed with French group TotalEnergies an agreement worth $2022 billion to develop a similar project in Saudi Arabia, including two factories for the production of polyethylene, a plastic material. most popular in the world.
According to Christophe Béchu, the average person on the planet today uses 60 kg of plastic every year and in the past 50 years, the world has produced more than 7 billion tons of plastic. In 2019 alone, the world generated 353 million tons of plastic waste, weighing as much as 35.000 Eiffel Towers, and 81% of plastic products were turned into waste in less than a year. Over the past 20 years, annual plastic production has more than doubled to reach 460 million tons, and at this rate, the volume of plastic will triple by 2060.
Plastics pollute throughout their life cycle, because as they age, they break down into micro- and nano-plastics. Plastics behave very differently than all the other materials humans use, because they cannot return to any of the biogeochemical cycles that stabilize ecosystems on Earth. All plastics, whether used once or for a long time, contribute to the increase of micro and nanoplastics, thereby forming a ticking time bomb for future generations. This pollution bomb will explode on its own if the world doesn't act hard enough now.
According to VNA/Newspapers
