In March 2022, Member States of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted an historic resolution establishing an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC).

This Committee had a mandate to develop a new legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (the Plastics Treaty). The instrument is expected to address the full life cycle of plastics and, among other things, include provisions to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics through product design and environmentally sound waste management. In the words of the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, the proposed Plastics Treaty, if adopted, will be “the most significant environmental multilateral deal since the Paris accord. It is an insurance policy for this generation and future ones, so they may live with plastic and not be doomed by it.”

Governments have set themselves an ambitious timetable with the INC to prepare the instrument “by the end of 2024”. The first session of the INC will take place in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 28 November to 2 December 2022. In this talk, Andy Raine will share information on the history and scope of the proposed treaty and the current status of the negotiations. He will also briefly discuss considerations relevant to his research as to how the proposed treaty could be an opportunity for advancing more inclusive and networked multilateralism in the context of an enhanced role of sub-state and non-state actors (e.g. cities, local authorities, academic institutions, businesses, and other non-governmental organisations).

This is a joint event with the Oxford Martin programme on the Future of Plastics

'A new global treaty on plastic pollution – updates from the front line' with Andy Raine