Event

Plastic planet: Can a global treaty stop the world choking on plastic pollution?

This event hosted by UK think tank Chatham House discusses the prospects in negotiating a global plastics treaty amid a divided world.

As global plastic pollution continues to escalate—potentially causing $4.5 trillion in economic damages by 2040—the international community is preparing for a critical round of negotiations in Geneva from 5–14 August 2025.

This meeting, formally known as INC-5.2, builds on five prior sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) and is expected to be the final meeting to develop an international legally binding global treaty to end plastic pollution.

Finding the “landing zone” for a treaty that is effective and ambitious is the defining challenge of the Geneva negotiations. It requires striking a delicate balance: it needs to be ambitious enough to meaningfully address the full life cycle of plastics and curb pollution at its source, yet flexible enough to secure broad participation from countries with divergent economic and political interests. The negotiations are as much a test of 

Ahead of the Geneva negotiations, this panel discussion explores the opportunities and challenges negotiators will face, both technical and political, of successfully concluding the negotiations. Key questions include:

• On what issues is there already broad convergence and where is further discussion needed?
• How can areas of divergence be bridged to conclude negotiations successfully?
• What is the role of independent science in informing the negotiations and the progressive development of the treaty?
• What is needed to ensure there is effective resource mobilisation, including financing, to support implementation of the treaty?
• What needs to happen between now and the INC5.2 to deliver a breakthrough in Geneva?

Speakers

Event chaired by Dr Patrick Schröder.

Dr Patrick Schröder – Senior Research Fellow, Environment and Society Centre

Jane Barton – Head of UK Delegation for Plastics Treaty Negotiations, Defra, UK

Margaret Spring – Chief Conservation and Science Officer, Monterey Bay Aquariam

HE Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso – Ambassador of Ecuador to the UK; Chair, UN International Negotiation Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution