IS there still hope for Planet Earth? Climate change talks at COP29 in Baku and the fifth and supposedly final round of negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty in Busan had disappointing outcomes. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP16 in Riyadh made only modest progress.
Have expectations been unrealistic? In the case of the Global Plastics Treaty, it was as recently as March 2022 that the UN Environment Assembly made the historic decision to develop a treaty that would address not just plastic pollution but the entire life cycle of plastics. However, over the course of the negotiations, a strong lobby of oil- and gas-producing countries and petrochemical industries emerged. The countries — numbering 30, including Saudi Arabia and Russia — insist that a treaty should focus solely on managing waste and pollution and not impose restrictions on production. Naturally! Ninety-nine percent of plastics are made from fossil fuels. Less plastic production is bad news for the oil and gas business. Plastic being a petrochemical product means that the plastic crisis is a climate crisis, as pointed out by Break Free from Plastics and other environmental organizations. We might transition away from fossil fuel energy and thereby cut greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation and transportation. However, these gains would amount to nothing if greenhouse gas emitting plastic production goes on unhampered. "Every day of delay is a day against humanity," Panama's lead negotiator Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez lamented. "Postponing negotiations do not postpone the crisis."
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