The negotiations were dogged by frequent, sometimes inexplicable, procedural and organisational mis-steps, but could even a perfectly executed week of talks have bridged the chasm between those who wanted a strong, ambitious treaty and those who wanted to continue to use, dispose of and profit from plastics with only a superficial nod towards sustainability? Sam […]
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If the week began with grand speeches about the ability of multilateralism to change the world the days that followed have put that notion to the strongest of tests, with parties failing to agree on almost any of the substantive questions that must be resolved to build a meaningful plastics treaty. Sam Winton breaks down […]
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Frustration and confusion abound as INC 5.2 resorts to informal and closed door sessions to force progress. Sam Winton captures the mood at negotiations in Geneva, where small victories afford scant solace. Aptly, one such victory is achieving agreement on the wording of the article describing how nations can withdraw from the global plastics treaty, […]
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As the midpoint of negotiations passes there is widspread frustration at both the slow progress achieved thus far and the lack of a clear plan to overcome barriers that were evident at last year’s talks in Busan and remain just as problematic today. Sam Winton, observing the negotiations in Geneva, looks for a way forward […]
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After three days of talks the fundamental differences between a majority of delegates who came to Geneva because they wanted a strong treaty and a minority who did not are strongly evident. This is expressed both in disagreements over basics such as whether a just transition is a desirable and in procedural quibbles. Both types […]
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Day one of the final set of treaty negoations saw both an appeal to multilateralism and a demonstration of its inherent challenges. Sam Winton describes the events of a day in which the initial momentum generated by widespread determination to build a meaningful treaty has been threatened by delays, organisational problems and the inevitable opposition […]
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