A group of major oil-producing countries, including the leaders of the OPEC+ alliance—Saudi Arabia and Russia—have blocked efforts to secure a United Nations-backed treaty aimed at limiting plastic production and usage.
The UN organized a summit in Busan, South Korea, to tackle plastic pollution. Delegates have been discussing a potential plastics treaty since November 25. However, despite the UN’s assertion that the talks were crucial to addressing the issue of plastic waste, the summit ended without a deal.
The negotiations, which focused on creating a legally binding framework to combat plastic pollution, concluded in the early hours of Monday. While delegates agreed on the need for more time to resolve differences and refine the treaty’s framework, the UN confirmed that the talks would reconvene in 2025.
Oil producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia have been resistant to proposals to limit plastic production. Abdulrahman Al Gwaiz, a delegate from Saudi Arabia, stated during the final plenary session that “there should be no problem with producing plastics.” He emphasized that the real issue was not the plastics themselves but the pollution they cause.
Russia similarly argued that efforts to curb plastic production were largely driven by economic factors. As global oil demand is expected to remain strong, especially due to the growing need for petrochemicals used to make plastics, countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia—heavily reliant on oil revenues—are wary of any measures that could limit plastic production.
In addition, chemical and fossil fuel industry lobbyists played a significant role in the summit’s proceedings. According to the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), more than 220 lobbyists from the fossil fuel and chemical sectors registered for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5), the largest delegation at the summit. This number surpassed even the host country’s own delegation of 140 representatives.
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