Earlier this year, the second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) came to a close. Just by this, you can tell these negotiations have been long drawn out without any real progress. This committee was set on drafting an International Legally Binding Instrument (ILBI) on Plastic Pollution, including in the Marine Environment. An ambitious step considering the contentious views of binding environmental law from many countries.

The United Nations Environment Agency passed a resolution in 2022, requesting the UN Environment Programme to form this INC to create the treaty on plastic pollution. While a monumental step in theory, it is now 2025, with the 2nd part of the 5th session coming to an abrupt end. States have not reached an agreement, and the draft text is considered by many to be “vague” and “unambitious,” having been rejected by over 100 countries. Even with so much time invested throughout the past 3 years, why hasn’t a reasonable draft been created yet?

There are three main grounds of divergence: