Story 15 Aug, 2025

Plastics Treaty negotiations end without agreement in Geneva – yet many countries and stakeholders remain strongly engaged to end plastic pollution

The fifth resumed session of the intergovernmental negotiating committee on an international, legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.2), concluded on 15 August without reaching consensus on a text.

Photo: IUCN, Karine Siegwart

Delegates were unable to bridge fundamental divides over binding obligations versus voluntary measures in addressing the full life cycle of plastics. Many States were concerned with and challenged the 13 August draft text released by the session chair, calling it insufficient to address the global plastic pollution crisis. IUCN and its World Commission on Environmental Law shared an analysis of this Chair’s Text here. This text proposal and its changes prompted all-day negotiations on 14 August between the countries, ending with a plenary close to midnight, a new Chair’s Text proposal at 1 a.m., and a resumed Plenary session early in the morning on 15 August.

"INC 5.2 has ended, not with consensus, but with a spark of opportunity. There is growing consensus on the need for sustainable production practices and robust financing mechanisms – priorities particularly vital for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Crucially, any effective Plastics Treaty must address plastic pollution impacts on biodiversity, human health, and ecosystems to meaningfully address this global challenge. We encourage IUCN Members to prepare for the relevant discussions on plastic pollution at the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 in Abu Dhabi,” said Dr Karine Siegwart, Senior Policy Advisor at IUCN's Centre for Policy and Law.

The negotiations highlighted the urgent need for effective multilateralism to tackle plastic pollution across its full lifecycle. Since the landmark UN Environment Assembly Resolution 5/14 in 2022, momentum and global awareness of this crisis has grown significantly. The outcome of today’s adjourned meeting marks one more step in a process that is very complex. Building on progress made since early discussions in Geneva in 2018, global awareness of and scientific research on plastic pollution and its effects on nature and humans has accelerated significantly.

Many countries and observers – including the High Ambition Coalition, the Business Coalition, youth delegates, Indigenous Peoples groups, waste pickers, civil society, and IUCN – have called for ambition during the talks, and while the end of INC 5.2 is disappointing to many, there is motivation to continue. The world has heard their calls for binding global and sustainable standards on plastic production and consumption targets, strong Conference of the Parties (COPs) decision making processes, solid means of implementation including financing, better, safe and sustainable product design, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), and upstream, midstream and waste management measures, aiming at a just transition to a circular economy. The global community must now work together effectively in a multistakeholder, just and inclusive approach.

"While INC 5.2 didn't reach agreement, the process has built strong partnerships across countries, civil society, and business to tackle plastic pollution. IUCN continues working to address this challenge globally, with effective solutions already scaling up. IUCN and the IUCN WCEL hope negotiators will achieve real progress by the end of 2025 and ensure that any new treaty includes international cooperation and biodiversity provisions," said Dr Alexandra Harrington, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Chair of the WCEL Plastic Pollution Task Force.

Most participants showed determination to solve this environmental issue, with good support for linking to other treaty regimes. Consistent with IUCN's position, many States emphasised the importance of a treaty that safeguards biodiversity, health, Indigenous communities, and youth. IUCN believes that the future Treaty should establish clear coordination mechanisms with existing multilateral environmental agreements, including the latest Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions (BRS Conference of the Parties (COP)) 2025 decisions, and the Biodiversity COP 16 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 16) decisions.

The next steps in this process are for the Bureau of the INC to decide on dates, a location, the basis of continued negotiations (which of the Chair’s Texts to use), and if intersessional work will happen. IUCN and its World Commission on Environmental Law stand ready to assist States over this period, including during intersessional work. IUCN and WCEL can provide legal and technical guidance to increase the capacity for negotiators and link the INC negotiations proposed text to regional frameworks and national policies and legislation where requested. For meaningful progress, nations must move beyond parallel monologues among negotiating groups toward authentic conversation – true multilateralism – that can deliver the promise of a cleaner, healthier environment for all.

IUCN’s objectives for the next resumed session of the INC include:

Strategically influence the negotiations towards the inclusion of biodiversity-specific language and terms, safeguarding ecosystems from current and future plastic pollution as a standalone article, or combined with an article on “Health”, following a biodiversity and health linked approach (OneHealth), with specific language to also include “International Cooperation” in the future treaty, by providing legal text-based input.
Position and secure IUCN’s role as key player in the nature-positive implementation of the Treaty (methodologies, criteria, data, support for National Action Plans, capacity building, monitoring), once adopted (e.g. through a Plastics Treaty Explanatory Guide).
Increase IUCN’s influence, visibility, and impact whilst advancing IUCN’s policy and projects such as AFRIPAC, EPPIC, IslandPlas, Pacific, Caribbean, and IUCN's plastics work globally, as well as the IUCN Programme – Nature 2030 and the relevant discussions which will happen on plastic pollution at the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2025 in Abu Dhabi.