Last April, negotiators from 175 nations met in Ottawa to hammer out the details of the world’s first global treaty to end plastic waste. That fourth of five rounds of negotiations ended indecisively, with no agreement on the contentious issue of imposing firm caps on plastic production. Hope percolated in August, when the Biden administration signalled that the United States, one of the world’s biggest plastic producers, would back a global target on plastic production.
Then, in the weeks leading up to the final round of plastic treaty negotiations in Busan, South Korea, in November, that hope evaporated as the Biden administration backtracked on its promise and described reductions in plastic production as an aspirational “North Star” goal.
“I thought we were on the same page in terms of capping…
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Corporate Knights (Digital) - 1 Issue, Winter 2025