As plastics treaty talks break down, are there paths to a breakthrough?

UN Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo by Madison Dennis

The resumed fifth United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5.2) concluded in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 15, 2025, with ambitious countries rejecting a weak UN Plastics Treaty text, forcing talks into a future, unscheduled session.  

The process was riddled with distractions and delay tactics advanced on behalf of fossil fuel– and plastic-friendly countries (“petrostates”) to get ambitious countries to agree to a watered-down treaty. But ambitious countries and civil society were aligned in knowing that no treaty yet is better than a weak treaty now. 

Ambitious countries, Indigenous Peoples, civil society, and scientists were met with fierce opposition and blocked from participation in Geneva by a flawed process and hundreds of fossil fuel and plastics lobbyists. To prevent a repeat of petrostates seeking consensus on an agreement focused only on waste management, future talks must restart with a coalition of the willing, ready to vote on a strong Plastics Treaty.

We walk away from Geneva knowing that the fight for a strong plastics treaty does not end here. In the face of industry manipulation and the negotiating process caving to the fossil fuel wishlist, a stronger majority of ambitious countries emerged and didn’t back down despite the obstruction of a few petrostates. The empowered and aligned movement of scientists, frontline activists, and civil society created through this years-long negotiation process is committed to fulfill the mandate for global action to end plastic pollution. 

As a global community, we will continue working to create the world we want to live in—free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts. And we won’t stop pushing our world leaders to finalize a strong plastics treaty that ends the plastic pollution crisis, beginning with unchecked fossil fuel extraction and plastic production. The solutions we need exist today. 

— Dianna Cohen, Co-Founder & CEO, Plastic Pollution Coalition

Powerful Voices & Symbols, Clear Demands 

As with all Plastics Treaty negotiations so far, civil society, Indigenous Peoples and other rightsholders, scientists, and advocates mobilized with unwavering energy to hold negotiators accountable, report on updates, and lead powerful actions.

In what became an iconic symbol of INC-5.2, an installation outside the Palais des Nations titled “The Thinker’s Burden” was powerful and evolved as the negotiations progressed. PPC Artist Ally Ben Von Wong created the art installation depicted a man cradling a newborn baby and clutching a plastic water bottle while seated atop Mother Earth adjoining a strand of DNA, representing the heavy burden of plastic pollution on human health and future generations. Volunteers helped construct the installation on the ground and add plastic to the installation each day to demonstrate the serious and mounting costs of inaction. This striking artwork became a focal point for activations and drew widespread attention across social media and news outlets. In a moving video, a performer is seen dancing around the art piece and questioning whether or not to have children, given the threats of plastics to human health and fertility.

Ahead of the first day of negotiations, hundreds gathered outside the Palais des Nations to demand a legally binding treaty to protect human health and the planet. Dressed in bright red, orange, and yellow, the protestors symbolized the urgent and growing threat of runaway plastic production. As a powerful symbol of the flood of fossil fuel lobbyists in Geneva, Greenpeace activists lined the streets outside the entrance with symbolic black oil and hung large banners atop the Palais des Nations reading: “Big Oil Polluting Inside” and “Plastics Treaty Not for Sale.”

Together, civil society’s diverse voices—several mobilizations led by Indigenous leaders and advocates with demands for negotiators as they entered the building, youth pushing for greater representation, Indigenous Peoples insisting on recognition as rightsholders, and scientists grounding the conversation in evidence—powerfully demonstrated why the Plastics Treaty matters and demanded world leaders act decisively to protect people and the planet.

A Flawed Process and Weary Delegates

Throughout the talks, it was clear that a flawed negotiation process ultimately worked in favor of polluters, not people and the planet. As during each previous INC session, lobbyists representing the fossil fuel, petrochemical, and plastics industries flooded the talks, some embedded in country delegations, pressuring nations and exerting corporate influence at the negotiating table. INC-5.2 saw a record number of at least 234 such lobbyists.

During the 11th hour of the negotiations, exhausted delegates, particularly from smaller countries with fewer representatives, faced several delays and a postponement of the final plenary, which was ultimately reconvened at 5:30 am local time, with little notice. This followed more than eight hours of waiting by delegates and advocates for the final plenary on what was supposed to be the last day of negotiations on August 14, only to be adjourned by the Chair after just 43 seconds of explanation, and a secretive late-night convening. 

Possibly as a ploy to pressure weary delegates into accepting a “take it or leave it” text, on August 13, the Chair released a treaty draft that outraged civil society and delegates for caving to the fossil fuel industry’s wishlist (see PPC response). During the early morning hours of August 15 local time in Geneva, a slightly improved version was issued, but delegates remained unconvinced. Delegations expressed their disappointment in not reaching an agreement but rejected the text that excluded a cap on plastic production and failed to include legally binding measures to address the plastic pollution crisis. 

In closer alignment with petrostates, the United States arrived in Geneva without ambition. In the final minutes, the U.S. pushed the Chair to close the session and deny space that was allotted for civil society statements.

Health Takes Center Stage

The Scientist’s Coalition, representing 450 independent experts from 65 countries, were active throughout the negotiations process to voice critical scientific evidence on the impacts of plastic pollution, and warn of the dangerous misrepresentation of data. 

On the eve of the negotiations, a large team of leading researchers published a landmark “Plastics Countdown” Lancet report classifying plastics as “a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health.” They further link plastics to disease and death throughout the human lifespan, from before birth through old age, causing health-related economic losses greater than $1.5 trillion per year, worldwide. The cause of plastic pollution, the report’s authors conclude, is the world’s still-growing plastic production. The publication of the Lancet report coincides with the launch of an independent, indicator-based monitoring system—the Lancet Countdown on Health and Plastics—which aims to track progress toward the reduction of human exposure to plastics and other measures to curb plastic pollution that mitigate harm to people and the Earth.

Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC), Mover Plastic-Free Sportswear, and EA For Impact held a film screening of Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics following a panel discussion on the devastating impacts of microplastics and the chemicals of concern, as well as how recycling will not fix this global crisis. The panel included David Azoulay, Center for International Environmental Law; Dr. Sedat Gündoğdu, Cukurova Üniversitesi; Jane Muncke, Food Packaging Forum; Nicolas Rochat, Mover Plastic-Free Sportswear; and Dr. Leonardo Trasande, New York University Langone Health, and was moderated by Dianna Cohen, Plastic Pollution Coalition. 

Several press conferences were held throughout the negotiations from Indigenous Peoples, Waste Pickers, Black voices, and other frontline communities whose hometowns have been designated as “sacrifice zones” by the fossil fuel, plastics, and related industries. Some of the speakers were from Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch of land along both banks of the Mississippi River that accounts for 25% of petrochemical production in the U.S. and home to communities facing among the highest cancer rates in the world. As experts with lived experience of plastic’s harms to human health, inclusion and recognition of their voices and knowledge are critical to an effective treaty process and outcome. 

Over 120 countries supported a standalone article on human health, despite the Chair’s failure to include it in the proposed, and soon rejected, draft text. This article is critical to centering science and human health throughout all efforts to address plastic pollution, across the full lifecycle.

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Pushing U.S. & World Leaders to Raise Ambition

PPC urged the U.S. to raise its ambition, as discussed in PPC’s Webinar, Sea Change: Advancing a Strong UN Plastics Treaty. This advocacy comes in light of recent shifts in the U.S.’s position that increasingly align with the “Like Minded Group” composed of many petrostates and plastic producers that have fought to derail the treaty process. PPC tracked shifts in the U.S. position and reported how its stance in Geneva favored polluters over people. At the beginning of the negotiations, the U.S. reportedly circulated a memo pressuring other countries to refuse a cap on plastic production or regulation on toxic chemicals, despite consensus from scientists, civil society, a global majority of governments, and a broad representation of the business community for these critical measures. PPC also petitioned world leaders to hold the line for a strong treaty—with or without U.S. backing. 

In Geneva, PPC shared key messages and on-the-ground updates on social media, featuring voices from the frontlines and fencelines of plastic pollution, high ambition delegations like Panama, as well as scientists and business leaders. Leading up to INC-5.2, PPC, together with Greenpeace and Break Free From Plastic, mobilized brands to join the Champions of Change initiative, gathering over 450 signatories in support of a treaty with production caps and a phase-out of single-use plastic.

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Looking Forward

The global push for a strong Plastics Treaty is far from over. The movement of people and ambitious countries remain steadfast, committed to navigating this complex but hopeful process. We are deeply interconnected with nature—in fact, we are nature—and this treaty is an opportunity to help restore our role as good stewards of the planet that supports humanity’s existence. 

We encourage you to take action today and make your voice heard. Sign the petitions to urge the U.S. to do better and to ensure world leaders do not give up on securing this defining treaty of our time.