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Agence France-Presse

A final round of talks on a treaty to end plastic pollution opened on Monday, with the diplomat chairing the difficult negotiations urging nations to “meet an existential challenge”.
The meeting opens just hours after a chaotic end to the Cop29 climate talks in Baku, which agreed to a boost in climate funding that developing countries slammed as insufficient.
“This conference is about far more than drafting an international treaty,” Ecuadorian diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso told an opening plenary in South Korea’s Busan.
“It is about humanity rising to meet an existential challenge.”

Plastic pollution is so ubiquitous it has been found in clouds, the deepest ocean trenches and even human breastmilk.
And while almost everyone agrees it is a problem, there is less consensus on how to solve it.
Among the most contentious issues are whether the treaty should cap plastic production, a possible ban on chemicals feared toxic to human health, and how to pay for implementation.
“There are some real differences on some key elements,” UN Environment Programme chief Inger Andersen acknowledged Sunday.
“I believe that we absolutely can land this, but that it will take everybody shuffling a little bit into the bus,” she said.
In 2019, the world produced around 460 million tonnes of plastic, a figure that has doubled since 2000, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Plastic production is expected to triple by 2060.
More than 90 per cent of plastic is not recycled, with over 20 million tonnes leaking into the environment, often after just a few minutes of use.
Plastic also accounts for around three per cent of global emissions, mostly linked to its production from fossil fuels.
Some countries, including the so-called High Ambition Coalition (HAC) that groups many African, Asian and European nations, want to discuss the entire “lifecycle” of plastics.
That means limiting production, redesigning products for reuse and recycling, and addressing waste.
On the other side are countries, largely oil producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia, who want a downstream focus on waste alone.

The HAC wants binding global targets on reducing production and warned ahead of the Busan talks that “vested interests” should not be allowed to hamper a deal.
The divisions have stymied four previous rounds of talks, producing an unwieldy document of over 70 pages.
Valdivieso has produced an alternative document intended to synthesise the views of delegations and move negotiations forward.
It is a more manageable 17 pages and highlights areas of agreement, including the need to promote reusability.
However, it leaves the thorniest issues largely unaddressed, angering some more ambitious nations and environmental groups.
And at the start of talks on Monday, Saudi Arabia, representing Arab nations, said the paper “cannot be the basis of our negotiations”.
“The reality is that many countries do not see themselves represented in this paper,” warned delegation head Eyad Aljubran.
Some observers believe the talks are likely to falter and be extended – especially after the difficult negotiations at UN climate and biodiversity conferences in recent weeks.
But both Andersen and Valdivieso insist a deal must be reached in Busan. That has some environmental groups worried an agreement will be watered down to ensure something is signed.
“After two back-to-back failed summits on nature and climate, Busan needs to be a refuge from further nature and climate inaction,” the WWF warned Monday.
Key to any accord will be the United States and China, neither of which have openly sided with either bloc.
Earlier this year, Washington raised hopes among environmentalists by signalling support for some limits on production, a position that is reportedly now being rowed back.
The election of Donald Trump has also raised questions about how ambitious the US delegation will be, and whether negotiators should even bother seeking their support if a treaty is unlikely to be ratified by Washington.
Some plastic producers are pushing governments to focus on waste management and reusability.
“We see tremendous opportunity for this treaty to give value to waste,” Chris Jahn, council secretary of the International Council of Chemical Associations, said.
But others back a deal with global standards, including on “sustainable” production levels.


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Environment

‘Existential challenge’: South Korea hosts final round of global plastic treaty talks

Plastic pollution litters our seas, our air and even our bodies. Negotiators face an uphill battle to agree to the world’s first treaty aimed at ending the problem. Photo: AFP

Chair of the International Negotiating Committee, Luis Vayas Valdivieso, addresses the opening session in Busan. Photo: AP

An art installation depicting the inside of a whale lined with plastic waste. Photo: AFP

Environmental activists in Busan send a message. Photo: Yonhap via AP

Cop29 ends with US$300 billion deal on climate finance, saving talks from brink of collapse

European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra applauds during a closing plenary meeting at Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Climate activists attend a protest at Cop29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday. Photo: EPA-EFE

India’s killer smog is piling on the costs to citizens, the economy

A view of the city amid heavy smog in New Delhi. Photo: EPA-EFE

A farmer burns straw stubble after a harvest in a paddy field on the outskirts of Amritsar. Noxious smog smothering the plains of north India is not only choking the lungs of residents and killing millions, but also slowing down the country’s economic growth. Photo: AFP

A teacher conducts an online class near a basketball court at Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute in New Delhi. Keeping children at home and moving lessons online for days at a time during the peak of the smog crisis in winter helps protect the health of the city’s youth. Photo: AFP

Carbon pollution from high-flying rich in private jets soars, study finds

Private aviation was responsible for 15.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2023. Photo: Shutterstock

The United States is by far the hub of private jets with more than 68 per cent of the globe’s private aircraft. Photo: AP

Use of private flights tends to rise around major sporting, cultural and political events. Photo: AFP

Amount of waste Hong Kong generates has peaked, environment minister says

Discarded items at Sun Tsui Estate in Tai Wan. For the city as a whole, the daily quantity of waste on average last year was 10,884 tonnes, a 2.2 per cent decrease from 2022, and down by 4.2 per cent from 2021.Photo: Eugene Lee

Danger: kitchen utensils made of black recycled plastic could be poisoning you, study says

Everyday household items made of black recycled plastic, including kitchen utensils, takeaway containers, toys and hair accessories, have a high chance of containing dangerous levels of flame retardants and other toxic chemicals, a new study finds. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Heat can encourage any flame retardant present in an item like a spatula to leach out into your food. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Kitchenware made of wood or stainless steel is deemed the safest in terms of toxic materials. Photo: Shutterstock

News

Asia

East Asia

Delegates from 175 countries gather in Busan for the fifth round of talks aimed at securing an international treaty to curb plastic pollution


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


South Korea

Cop29