SUSTAINABILITY

Plastics. In late August, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and the Dominican Republic, along with 16 other countries, launched the High Ambition Coalition to end plastic pollution by 2040. The coalition will work on building a draft binding agreement by 2024, under the responsibility of an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. This committee will meet for the first time from November 28 to December 2 in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

This initiative follows the initiation of a dialogue process to achieve a binding treaty covering the entire life cycle of plastic. The debate will have a comprehensive focus on three strategic objectives: Restricting plastic consumption and production to sustainable levels; circular economy for plastics, allowing all plastics to be produced with the aim of favoring their reuse and recycling; and achieving sound management of plastic waste, where the new international treaty establishes provisions for the minimization of plastic waste and its environmentally sound collection, sorting and preparation for reuse and recycling.

Next steps

The new treaty is expected to be ready by the end of 2024, making it the most important binding multilateral agreement after the Paris Agreement. In parallel to negotiations on a binding international agreement, the UN agency will work with any willing companies along the entire value chain to move away from single-use plastics, as well as to mobilize private finance and remove barriers to investments in research and a new circular economy.