Global plastics summit starts as COP29 ends
Negotiators gathering in South Korea seek an end to the world's plastic pollution crisis, though Trump's election may muddle the deal
What happened
The United Nations–sponsored COP29 climate talks ended in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sunday with approval of a deal to provide $300 billion a year to fight climate change, focused on helping poorer countries manage the rise in global temperatures. Negotiators gather Monday in Busan, South Korea, to work on hammering out a landmark deal to manage the world's plastics crisis.
Who said what
Delegates from 175 countries are in Busan for the "fifth and ostensibly final" meeting to curb plastic pollution, but "lingering divisions cast doubts on whether a final agreement is in sight," Reuters said. The European Union and 66 countries are looking for a treaty to cap and reduce the amount of plastic produced, and the U.S. "raised eyebrows in August" when it agreed to back those caps."
"Then came the election of Donald J. Trump," The New York Times said. Now "few expect the United States to sign on to an eventual treaty at all," with Trump siding with the petrochemical companies and other plastic-producing nations that oppose reducing output. Microplastics are already in drinking water, fish and animals, and even human organs, but plastics companies at the summit argue that the goal should be reducing waste through reuse and recycling.
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COP29's final deal "rescued the summit from near collapse," but it left "just about everyone frustrated," Semafor said. Even the "disappointing" $300 billion number will be hard to turn from dollars in a ledger into "hard cash in the hands of the most climate-vulnerable countries."
What next?
Many developing countries, already "angered by the modest deal on climate crisis financing," argued that an "ambitious" plastics treaty with holdouts is "better than a watered-down one signed by all," the Times said. The Busan summit ends Saturday.
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