On 4 September 2023, the United Nations Organisation (UNO) presented the so-called ‘Zero Draft’ of the Plastics Treaty. This draft is to serve as the basis for the upcoming meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee from 13 to 19 November 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya. The previous meeting in Paris at the beginning of June 2023 served as the basis.
The draft contains some provisions to reduce plastic production and eliminate particularly harmful types of plastics and chemicals. However, it remains vague in many aspects, as it contains placeholders for topics that need to be discussed by the participants at the upcoming meetings. The structure of the draft is built around the life cycle of plastic products. Every concern raised by member states at the previous meeting in Paris for inclusion in the agreement was included in the draft as an ‘element’. There are several options for dealing with these.
In principle, a distinction is made between three options:
- Option 1 would require nations to ‘prohibit and eliminate chemicals and polymers of concern in plastic production’.
- Option 2, on the other hand, only requires ‘minimise the use of chemicals and polymers of concern’.
- The weakest commitment is option 3, which leaves it up to each country to regulate the presence and use of problematic chemicals independently.
Numerous sources emphasise that the draft contains positive aspects, such as promoting the recycling of plastics. However, they say, there is no explicit reference to the phase-out of fossil fuels as a key measure to reduce plastic production.
The upcoming official negotiating session, also known as INC-3, will take place in Kenya from 13 to 19 November 2023. This marks the third of a total of five planned meetings of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. The final planned meeting is scheduled for December 2024, with the non-binding aim of reaching a legally binding agreement by 2025 to curb plastic pollution and protect the environment.
