EU won’t surrender to oil states in plastic treaty negotiations

BUSAN, South Korea — The European Union has a clear message for oil and plastic-producing states: We're going to fight to the end to get the plastic treaty we want.

Talking to POLITICO on the sidelines of the plastic pollution talks in Busan, South Korea, Hungarian Environment Minister Anikó Raisz said the EU is "not interested in a waste management convention," pushing back on oil-rich and plastic-producing countries who want it to focus on waste management only.

With Hungary holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, Raisz has been representing the bloc during the talks.

Oil-rich countries like Iran, Russia and Saudi Arabia are seen as the biggest impediment to a deal that goes to the root of the plastic pollution crisis: production. Almost all plastic is made from oil and gas.

"We do think that if we want to call it a plastic pollution convention, plastic pollution ... cannot be tackled without tackling the upstream issues," Raizs said. "That's a very important point for us."

Another country that has been more reluctant to reduce plastic production is China — the world's number one producer and consumer of plastic. "We still hope that there can be a version that can be acceptable for us all and get China on board with having production [in the treaty]," she said.

The EU, alongside more than 100 other countries and the U.K., on Thursday backed a new proposal spearheaded by Panama pushing for a global target to reduce plastic production to “sustainable levels.”

That's been integrated into a new draft text for the treaty — alongside an alternative option of not touching plastic production at all.

The proposal suggests defining the precise reduction target at a later date in an attempt to show "flexibility," said Raisz, "but we really would like to have meaningful results."

"We are convinced that as we, so far, haven't invented a recycling process that may help us recycle 100 percent of the plastics that are produced on Earth, we need to reduce production in the sense that we reach a sustainable level of production," she added.

In a press conference Friday, Panamanian official Juan Carlos Monterrey Gómez was more blunt: "We seek the leadership of our colleagues that until this point are not committed to production reduction ... but if they are not willing to lead, please leave it to the rest of us and get out of the way."

A frustrating Friday

The draft text published by the chair presiding over plastic treaty talks, Luis Vayas, was meant to be a turning point in the negotiations. It didn't quite hit that spot.

Later in the evening, countries headed into talks lasting more than four hours where they often restated the same concerns they've held since the talks began, according to two negotiators granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door discussions. The text was not rejected outright, but the path forward remains unclear and no side is completely convinced by the draft, which still contains many brackets and alternative options.

The talks could "all still fall apart," said one negotiator, with key sticking points revolving around plastic production, how to finance the treaty, and chemicals of concern.

Some countries are discussing whether there will be a need for another mini-round of talks  (an "INC 5.2"); some are discussing taking action outside the treaty — through pacts at a regional level, for example.

Asked about the fact that some negotiators are bracing for an additional round of talks, Raisz said: "It could be a very bad idea to talk about INC 5.2. Of course, it occurs [that people discuss this]. But here, hundreds if not thousands of people work very hard to reach an agreement by Sunday."