Waste

Plastic-free planet: Paris meet ends after severe delays, with proposal for zero draft text

Member states have urged the INC secretariat to prepare a zero draft which will be up for negotiations at INC-3 in Nairobi, Kenya

 
By Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh
Published: Saturday 03 June 2023

Photo: @UNEP / TwitterThe United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee-2 (INC-2) meet being held in Paris from May 29 to discuss a global and binding treaty to end plastic pollution ended on June 2. It was agreed that a ‘zero draft’ text would be developed and put forth before INC-3 in Nairobi later this year.

The INC Secretariat committee also asked for submissions from observers and members by August 15 and September 15 respectively, on the following elements:

  • Elements not discussed at INC-2; such as principles and scope of the instrument
  • Possibility of any intersessional work
  • A 1-day preparatory meeting with INC-3

These pointers were agreed to by all member states in the plenary. The Committee also urged the Secretariat to prepare a synthesis report on the basis of submissions received by the member states.

Two contact groups went into discussing ‘substance’ and ‘implementation’ late on the evening of evening of June 1.

What happened in the contact groups

Contact Group 1 was co-facilitated by delegates from Palau and Germany, while contact group 2 was co-facilitated by delegates from Ghana and Australia. After five sessions of each of the contact groups, the co-facilitators submitted a summary of the discussion in each group.

On the last day of the meeting, it was pointed out by Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union that their interventions had not been captured correctly in the co-facilitators summary of contact groups. In response to this, the chair decided the member states enter an informal discussion late afternoon, on the fifth day of the meeting.

The informal discussions chaired by delegates from Brazil and France went on for more than four hours which revolved around issues such as the timeline for member states to make written submissions between INC-2 and INC-3.

These submissions would ideally include the elements that were not included in the template provided by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in late 2022 but were important according to the member states.

Countries like Tanzania and the US pointed out that it was equally important to open written submissions from the observers and major groups and stakeholders.

The chair of the informal discussions informed the plenary about the agreement that was arrived at on the basis of the discussions. Some of the highlights of the report back was that member states and observers can send their statements to the Secretariat. This will be posted on the UNEP website.

The INC-2 was a roller coaster ride for the ones who were following it very closely. The High Ambition Coalition (HAC), demanding an ambitious, legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution, was definitely not prepared for the pushback that they received from the oil, gas and polymer-producing countries.

Despite intentional and unintentional delays at the INC-2, there may still be a zero draft to start off with at INC-3. However, the lows of the INC-2 meet were clearly deeper than the highs that were expected by the HAC and most of the major groups and stakeholders present in Paris.

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