Negotiators fail to agree on a UN agreement to curb plastic pollution worldwide Weather News

As the threat of plastic pollution grows, countries can only agree to postpone the talks to a later date.

Countries negotiating a global agreement to curb plastic pollution have failed to reach an agreement, as more than 100 countries encourage a reduction in plastic production and a handful of oil-producing countries are only willing to target plastic waste.

The fifth meeting of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) in Busan, South Korea was intended to be the last session. It was hoped that the meeting would produce a legally binding international agreement.

If successful, it would mark the world's most important climate pledge since the Paris Climate Accords in 2015, but the group of countries could only agree on Sunday to postpone the talks until the following day.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, was accused of standing in the way. The country strongly opposed efforts to reduce plastic production and used procedural strategies to slow progress.

“It is clear that there are still divisions going on,” Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, told the Reuters news agency.

One plan that has received strong international support was proposed by Panama on Thursday. If adopted, it would have established a global production reduction target, but did not specify what that target would look like. Another proposal did not mention production caps at all.

The head of the Panamanian delegation, Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, condemned the postponement of the talks.

“Every day of delay is a day against humanity,” he said. “Postponing negotiations does not postpone the problem.”

Based on current trends, plastic production is on track to triple by 2050.

“Every day that governments allow polluters to continue to flood the world with plastic, we all pay. This delay has serious consequences for people and the planet, we are contributing to the cruelty of those who are at the forefront of this problem,” said Graham Forbes, head of the Greenpeace team on the global plastic agreement, in a statement.

“This week, more than 100 member states, representing billions of people, rejected an agreement that would have achieved nothing and stood before the world to make an ambitious agreement. Now, it is time for them to stand on this promise and fulfill it.”

Environmental organization GAIA told Reuters that “there is little guarantee that the next INC will succeed where INC-5 did not”.

The postponement comes days after the tumultuous conclusion of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan.

At COP29, countries pledged $300bn a year to tackle climate change. However, the program fell well short of the $1.3 trillion requested by developing countries, which are disproportionately affected by climate change.