Can U.S. and other countries reach a deal on curbing plastic pollution?

Delegates from 175 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea, for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution.

As delegates from 175 countries gathered in Busan, South Korea, on Monday for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution, lingering divisions cast doubts on whether a final agreement is in sight.

South Korea is hosting the fifth and ostensibly final U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) meeting this week, after the previous round of talks in Ottawa in April ended without a path forward on capping plastic production.

Instead, talks will be focused on chemicals of concern and other measures after petrochemical-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and China strongly opposed efforts to target plastic production over the protests of countries that bear the brunt of plastic pollution.

The divisions plaguing plastics treaty talks echo conflicts that have long stalled U.N. efforts to curb global warming, with the most recent climate summit, COP29, having just ended with an agreement that poorer nations assailed as inadequate.

“Without significant intervention, the amount of plastic entering the environment annually by 2040 is expected to nearly double compared to 2022,” INC Chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso said at the opening session in Busan on Monday.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/can-us-countries-reach-deal-curbing-plastic-pollution-rcna181580

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