What's at stake in UN plastic pollution treaty talks

ESG Insider: A podcast from S&P Global

More than 170 countries will gather in Ottawa, Canada between April 23 and April 29 to negotiate a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution with a view to agreeing on a global treaty by the end of 2024. In this episode of the ESG Insider podcast, we’ll hear from stakeholders who will be present at the negotiations about key issues being debated and the potential implications.

Willemijn Peeters discusses policies and actions to increase recycling and reuse of plastics and reduce plastic pollution. Willemijn is Founder and CEO of circularity consultancy Searious Business, which works with companies to manage their plastic use. She’s also an Adviser to the UN on the global plastics agreement.

We speak to Carroll Muffett, CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law, a nonprofit advocacy organization. He says that transforming and reducing plastic production will be one of the key topics at the negotiations.

"We are already overwhelmed with plastic pollution and the problem is only getting worse. The only way to address that is to dramatically and rapidly reduce the amount of plastics that are entering our world," Carroll says. "These negotiations should be a wake-up call to any business that is anchored in the continuing production and use of plastic."

And we hear the industry perspective from Stewart Harris, Senior Director of Global Plastics Policy at the trade group the American Chemistry Council, who says demand for plastic will continue to grow.

"Reaching an agreement where the majority of countries can join is an incredibly high priority for the plastics industry," he says. "When we get all the countries sitting around the table, we get an agreement where they can all join, that's what's going to drive and have the most impact in terms of solving this issue of plastic pollution."

Listen to the first episode of our miniseries titled "How plastic impacts companies, investors, public health and the environment" here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/how-plastic-impacts-companies-investors-public-health-and-the-environment

Listen to our third episode in this miniseries titled “What companies are doing to address the plastic pollution problem" here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/what-companies-are-doing-to-address-the-plastic-pollution-problem

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.

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