The US government is pushing back against measures to tackle the ever-growing production of plastics in a new global treaty as key talks this week failed to produce a breakthrough ahead of the upcoming final round of negotiations.
Following speculation on how the Trump administration would handle thorny discussions over an expected UN pact on plastic pollution, US officials finally spelled out their new position at a three-day informal gathering in Nairobi aimed at finding a way forward ahead of next month’s talks in Geneva.
In a statement seen by Climate Home, the US made clear it does not support provisions that would regulate the supply side of plastics or feedstocks used in its manufacturing, adding that for areas without a “level of convergence” – including production – action should be left to “country-level discretion”.
After China, the US is the world’s second-largest producer of plastic polymers – the basic building blocks of plastic products that are primarily derived from fossil fuels.
Under the Biden administration, the US had flip-flopped between different positions on the UN treaty. It first attempted to water down its ambition, then backed measures to limit plastic production and finally, following Trump’s election, largely sat on the fence during crunch talks in Busan, South Korea, last December.
Fossil-fuel producers unite
Now, in the statement issued in Nairobi, the US said it wants “to ensure that we will grow our economies, maintain jobs for our citizens, all while reducing plastic pollution through cost-effective and pragmatic solutions”.
“We support an agreement that focuses on efforts that will lead to reducing plastic pollution, not on stopping the use of plastics,” it added, echoing a talking point frequently trotted out by other major fossil fuel producers opposed to plastic production cuts like Saudi Arabia and Russia.
After countries dramatically failed to reach an agreement in Busan, the informal meeting in Nairobi was billed as a crucial opportunity to find potential solutions and lay a path toward landing a deal at the so-called “INC-5.2” negotiations in Geneva.
Over half of countries push for plastic production cuts in new UN pact
But, while this week’s discussions were described as “constructive” and resulted in some overall progress, countries were still far apart on the most divisive elements of the treaty, including how to deal with the ever-expanding supply of plastics, three negotiators told Climate Home.
Climate Home maintained the sources’ anonymity to allow them to speak freely about confidential discussions from which the media is excluded.
Long-standing fault lines remain largely unchanged. On the one hand, a coalition of nearly 100 countries across the developed and developing world wants an “ambitious” treaty that stems the rising flow of plastics, ideally with a global target to reduce production and consumption to “sustainable levels”.
On the other, most oil-and-gas producing nations, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, and petrochemical powerhouses like India, argue the pact should be limited to addressing consumption and recycling.
Seeking a way forward
David Azoulay, director of environmental health at the nonprofit Center for International Law (CIEL), said it was “concerning”, though not totally unexpected, that the meeting “did not provide the kind of breakthrough or radical changes in the negotiation dynamics that could unlock the negotiations ahead of INC-5.2 in Geneva”.
“We saw obstructive countries double-down on their proven, time-tested strategies that reject constructive approaches to addressing content,” he told Climate Home. He added that, while “ambitious developing countries continue to hold the line” on pushing for a plastics treaty that is “fit for purpose”, developed countries “were largely silent in defending ambition”.
Two negotiators from the self-described “high-ambition coalition” told Climate Home that the goal is to find language that could bring as many countries on board so that the treaty would meaningfully cover a significant proportion of the global plastics supply chain.
A potential landing zone on plastic production would be to acknowledge that business as usual is not working and introduce transparency measures without forcing strict reduction targets or quotas at first, they indicated.
In Nairobi, Japan put forward a proposal pointing in that direction. It states that countries “shall cooperate to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics throughout their life cycle”, and report data on their supply chains as well as measures taken to address the treaty’s goals.
What will the US do in Geneva?
In the month before talks kick off on the shore of Lake Geneva, negotiators are expected to keep refining their strategies with one big unknown: how will the US behave?
The presence of a US delegation in Nairobi was seen as an indication of engagement with the plastics treaty, after the US government under Trump withdrew from most other multilateral talks on environmental and climate issues.
That could either be a blessing or a curse, one negotiator admitted. “They could be willing to do something, or let others do their thing and not ratify [the treaty] at this stage,” they said. “But if they want to hinder others, it will be very challenging.”
