Countries band together to turn off the plastic tap

A new initiative aimed at putting a stop to plastic pollution was launched 22 August by the governments of Rwanda and Norway, The initiative, called the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, is also supported by Canada, Peru, Germany, Senegal, Georgia, Republic of Korea, UK, Switzerland, Portugal, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Costa Rica, Iceland, Ecuador, France and the Dominican Republic.
The group plans to push for lowering plastic production, improving recycling, and developing tools to hold countries accountable to their promises.
Plans for the High Ambition Coalition were first put forward following the UN Environment Assembly resolution 5/14 “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an International Legally Binding Instrument” by the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022, which was adopted by more than 150 countries.“The coalition will work with the INC, and advocate for urgent action to protect human health, biodiversity, and our climate. The goal of the coalition is to drive ambitious action during the negotiating process,” said Minister of Environment of the Republic of Rwanda and co-chair of the coalition, Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya.
To that end, the coalition will focus on raising awareness awareness and identifing priorities for the negotiation sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC). It will also undertake intersessional work on essential elements and issues to inform the negotiations in order to develop a landmark treaty by 2024.
“We took the initiative to form a group of ambitious countries to work for a truly effective global treaty that will establish common global rules, turn off the tap and end plastic pollution by 2040,” said Minister of Climate and Environment of Norway and co-chair of the coalition, Espen Barth-Eide. “At the outset of the plastic treaty negotiations, we have outlined three strategic goals and seven key deliverables for success in this regard.”
These goals are first, to restrain plastic consumption and production to sustainable levels; second, to enable a circular economy for plastics that protects the environment and human health; and third, to achieve environmentally sound management and recycling of plastic waste.
Plastic pollution has reached unprecedented levels the world over and is projected to rise significantly in the next decades. According to the OECD’s Global Plastic Outlook Policy Scenarios to 2060 report, without urgent global action, the volume of plastics in rivers and lakes will increase from 109 million tonnes in 2019 to 348 million tonnes in 2060 while plastics leaking into the ocean will rise from 30 million tonnes in 2019 to 145 million tonnes in 2060.
Plastic consumption is projected to skyrocket in the coming decades, from 460 million tonnes in 2019 to 1 231 million tonnes in 2060. The most significant sectors driving consumption are packaging, vehicles and construction which will make up 2/3 of all use.
This is an unacceptable burden to place on future generations, said Dr. Jeanne d’Arc Mujawamariya.
“Rwanda started the journey to end plastic pollution in 2004, unfortunately plastic wastes are still visible in the country’s downstream which proves the need of global efforts towards a common goal […] Plastic pollution constitutes a planetary crisis with impacts on human health, biodiversity and climate system.”
The coalition recognises the shared responsibility of the international community to address the root causes of this crisis, and will work to ensure a united response, she added. “It will support interventions across the entire life-cycle of plastics - from production, to distribution, to disposal and management.”
Members of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution will meet in New York in a few weeks, during the UN General Assembly, to discuss the next steps in the coalition’s work.
The first meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee will take place on 28 November in Uruguay.