Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

US and EU split over plastic pollution

US and EU split over plastic pollution

The two blocs have wildly different ideas on how to get countries and companies to tackle the problem.

An effort to end plastic pollution by 2040 is dividing the United States and the European Union.

The U.S. has been working to get countries to join its "End Plastic Pollution International Coalition by 2040," but so far they aren't biting. Instead, there's growing traction for a rival grouping — the High Ambition Coalition, chaired by Norway and Rwanda — that’s attracted over 50 countries. Members include U.S. allies like Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, the U.K. — and now the EU, which joined Thursday.

The split was on display at an international summit in Punta del Este, Uruguay this week — the first opportunity for diplomats to make progress on a legally binding global plastics treaty by 2024. It follows a landmark agreement by more than 150 countries earlier this year on a global framework aimed at ending plastic pollution.

The EU-U.S. split boils down to a difference over how best to rein in the flood of plastic befouling land, beaches and seas.

According to a document seen by POLITICO, the U.S. State Department favors allowing nations to set their own action plans, dismissing the notion that there can be a “one-size-fits-all approach” to the issue. It's an approach that's not finding much support among other countries but has the enthusiastic backing of the U.S. chemicals lobby.

The rival coalition advocates a more top-down approach of a binding international treaty that uses “bans and restrictions” to eliminate “problematic plastics” along with global baselines and targets.

The dispute is mirrored by deep divisions between companies and campaigners.

Monica Medina, the U.S. assistant secretary for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, told POLITICO in an interview that the U.S. stance promotes a “race to the top,” arguing that negotiations centered on global targets for reductions in plastic production could wind up stooping to the “lowest common denominator.”

However, Juliet Kabera, the lead plastics treaty negotiator for Rwanda, put her alliance’s success down to “trusting the science.” She pointed to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which estimates plastic waste will triple by 2060. Approximately 8 million tons of plastic enter the world’s oceans each year, while only 9 percent of plastics are recycled globally and 50 percent is landfilled.

“I can never underscore it enough: We are looking for a treaty that is going to make a difference,” she said.

Medina defended the U.S. approach, saying: “We are just as or more ambitious as anyone else in this negotiation.”


There are also divisions among campaigners over how closely they should work with the petrochemical industry

Carsten Wachholz of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, who is heading to Uruguay as an observer, pointed out that some countries may feel uncomfortable “openly” positioning themselves as the “counterpart to the High Ambition Coalition.” 

A negotiator from a country with the High Ambition Coalition — who requested anonymity to speak candidly on the negotiations — said the U.S. is “struggling to have countries actually wanting to join that coalition.” Washington has put itself “in a bit of a difficult situation with this information leaking; now they're kind of obligated to develop this group,” they added.


Companies and campaigners


The U.S. position aligns with the American Chemistry Council, an industry lobby.

“We see a country-driven approach in which governments and key stakeholders develop locally appropriate solutions as essential to successfully addressing plastic pollution in the environment,” said Stewart Harris, the ACC’s senior director of global plastics policy. The rival coalition would “limit economic growth of developing economies,” he added.

But NGOs are skeptical of that approach. There are also divisions among campaigners over how closely they should work with the petrochemical industry.

The World Wide Fund for Nature and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation on September 21 created a Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, featuring 80 organizations that calls for cutting plastic production and use through a “circular economy approach” with a treaty that would "set out common global goals and obligations" to be implemented in "all national jurisdictions."

The day of the announcement, Greenpeace USA put out a statement of its own calling the coalition's vision for a plastics treaty “clearly not enough.”

“The coalition has some good things in it, but the companies have consistently said and made positive rumblings about reduction and moving toward reuse but fail in shifting a reliance on single use plastics,” said Graham Forbes, Greenpeace’s global plastics project lead. “We know voluntary corporate commitments will never get there."

Despite their different approaches, both the U.S. and the High Ambition Coalition say they agree on the larger goal of ending plastic pollution by 2040.

Wachholz of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation added that it's unlikely governments will come to blows in Uruguay — next week is the first round of negotiations; countries only agreed on the global framework for negotiations back in March.

Medina said the U.S. has "been having great conversations with lots of governments. I don’t think people have decided which approach they like better. And there’s nothing about the High Ambition Coalition that forecloses our approach. So we don’t see ourselves as isolated at all."

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
A monster hit and a billion-dollar toy empire
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
Canada: Nurse Suspended and Fined 93 Thousand Dollars After Stating the World’s Most Well-Known Fact Since the Creation of Adam and Eve, That There Are Only Two Genders
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
U.S. Treasury Secretary Whitney Bessent Backs Stablecoins to Boost Treasury Demand
Spain to Declare Disaster Zones After Massive Wildfires
Three-Minute Battery Swap Touted as Future of EVs
Beijing Military Parade to Showcase Weapons Advances
U.S. Tech Stocks Slide on AI Boom Concerns
White House Confirms Talks Over Intel Stake
Trump Suggests U.S. Could Support Ukraine ‘By Air’
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
UK Government Tries to Sue 4chan for Breaching Online Safety Act
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
"Every Centimeter of Your Body Is a Masterpiece": The Shocking Meta Document Revealed
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
China Requires Data Centres to Source Majority of AI Chips Locally, For Technological Sovereignty
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
OpenAI’s ‘PhD-Level’ ChatGPT 5 Stumbles, Struggles to Even Label a Map
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×