{"id":68471,"date":"2025-08-12T13:14:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/?p=68471"},"modified":"2025-08-12T13:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:14:45","slug":"plastics-treaty-talks-near-end-as-pressure-mounts-for-ambition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/68471\/plastics-treaty-talks-near-end-as-pressure-mounts-for-ambition\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastics Treaty talks near end as pressure mounts for ambition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Weak treaty would be a \u2018betrayal,\u2019 advocates warn<\/h2>\n\n
\"Open
The second part of the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5.2), takes place from the 5th to 14th August 2025 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
\u00a9 Marie Jacquemin \/ Greenpeace<\/div><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

11 August 2025, Geneva, Switzerland\/Quezon City, Philippines<\/em> \u2014 With just three days left before the final round of negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty comes to a close in Geneva, Switzerland, civil society groups, scientists, and community representatives warn that talks are veering off course, risking a weak agreement that fails to protect people and the planet from plastic pollution.<\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Philippines Zero Waste Campaigner Marian Ledesma, in Geneva for the negotiations, raised alarm over mounting industry influence and the attempts of oil-producing states to water down the treaty\u2019s scope, focusing only on waste management and excluding measures to cut plastic production and address health impacts.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWe are running out of time,\u201d Ledesma said. \u201cA watered-down treaty that ignores plastic production cuts would be a betrayal of the millions of people counting on their leaders to protect health, human rights, and the environment. A weak treaty will be nothing more than a fig leaf for polluters. World leaders promised ambition, and ambition means tackling the problem at its source, not passing the burden to communities already drowning in plastic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Concerns over undue influence have grown as reports show hundreds of fossil fuel and petrochemical lobbyists attending past sessions\u2014far outnumbering health and environmental experts. Advocates say this imbalance threatens to derail the process and weaken the treaty at the expense of people and the planet.<\/p>\n\n

In the Philippines, over 80 civil society organizations, academic institutions, and businesses have urged the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to align with countries pushing for ambitious production reduction targets and upstream solutions such as reuse and refill systems. In response, the DENR has affirmed its support for a full life cycle approach to plastics\u2014addressing pollution from extraction to disposal\u2014echoing calls from scientists and advocates worldwide.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cThis Global Plastics Treaty is a way forward for us to solve our situation on waste,\u201d said Atty. Janice Regoso-Pammit, Chief of the Legal Division and Concurrent Board Secretary of the Pollution Adjudication Board of the Environmental Management Bureau. \u201cIssues on health, product design, financial mechanism, release and leakages, waste management, the whole life cycle of plastics, the extended producer’s responsibility, and the transparency and traceability are key points that the Philippines submitted as our conference room paper for this INC 5.2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

\u201cSupporting a full life cycle approach internationally should mean adopting the same ambition at home by cutting plastic production, phasing out single-use plastics, and building strong reuse systems in the Philippines,\u201d said Ledesma. \u201cAnything less would betray the communities already suffering the impacts of plastic pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The groups continue to call on the government to:<\/p>\n\n