Norway: Oil producers cannot be allowed to derail plastic treaty

Norway, the European Union and other countries across Africa, the Pacific Islands and South America say they won’t stand for oil-rich countries frustrating efforts to reach a global treaty to fight plastic pollution — and plan to heap pressure on these “vested interests” as talks reach their conclusion.
“We need to send a clear message that [we] will not accept a small number of countries standing in the way of an agreement,” Norwegian International Development Minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim — co-chair of the self-named “High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution” — said in an interview with POLITICO.
Countries will meet in Busan, South Korea, in November for the final round of make-or-break United Nations talks to complete a global plastics treaty. The purpose of the treaty is to halt worsening plastic pollution, but progress has been slow over the past two years due to deep divisions between countries on how prescriptive that deal should be.
While the “high-ambition” countries say they remain committed to working with all nations to “establish and extend areas of common understanding and convergence,” in a new statement out Wednesday, the 67 nations pledge not to let “vested interests” stand in the way of an ambitious agreement as a final round of talks approaches.
“As you can see in that text, we are being pretty clear that we do not appreciate the methods [employed by the pro-plastic countries],” said the Norwegian minister. “We’re taking it up a notch in the text … on that point.”
While most countries can get behind new measures to improve plastic recycling and waste management, the thornier subject of tackling the root source of increasing plastic pollution — production — remains a key sticking point. Fossil fuels are the main natural resource used in plastics manufacturing, and demand is booming. Over the last two decades plastic production doubled, and on current trajectories plastic waste will almost triple by 2060, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
For oil-rich nations including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Russia — already facing a likely drop in demand from the transport sector as carmakers go electric — plastics could therefore become a vital market for their oil long-term. They oppose provisions to reduce plastic production and have claimed that such a mechanism falls outside the scope of the treaty. They’ve also been accused of purposely torpedoing talks through procedural delays in a bid to limit progress on the treaty.
Non-negotiable elements for the treaty, Tvinnereim said, include common goals and requirements to reduce plastic production, as well as new rules around certain plastic products and hazardous chemicals used in plastic. There also need to be measures to improve the sustainable design of plastic products and boost waste management systems, she said.
In the coming weeks, the coalition will be holding talks with more resistant countries to make headway on the blocked negotiations.
“We need transparency as to their interests. I mean, that’s the way negotiations work, right?” she said. “What we are hoping now in the weeks [leading] up to Busan is to get more information as to what are the red lines. What can we negotiate?”
Norway itself has come under fire in recent months for the government’s decision to forge ahead with further oil and gas extraction in the Arctic.
Asked how her government justifies this while clearly acknowledging the plastic pollution and climate crisis, Tvinnereim said: “The Norwegian position is there will still be a room for Norwegian oil and gas in the future but we will need to reduce the scale of it.”
“It’s all about putting an end to the unnecessary use of plastic and making sure that it gets into circular systems,” she added. “And eventually this will mean that there will be a lower demand for petroleum products in the future. I think that’s a good thing.”
With less than two months to go until the final round of talks in November, environmental campaigners will be watching keenly to make sure the High Ambition Coalition’s words translate into action.
“It’s a political cost when some countries are loudly protesting against you going ahead — and so [more ambitious nations] need to be ready to take that cost and to make an agreement even if not all countries are on board with the agreement and won’t sign the agreement,” said the WWF’s Global Plastics Policy Manager Eirik Lindebjerg in an interview with POLITICO in August.
“If the progressive majority is ready to do that and push through in such a situation, then I’m pretty sure we can get a strong agreement this year.”