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Aid needed to meet the costs of controlling plastics: India

Post by Admin on Thursday, Nov 28, 2024 0 comments | 0 TightSlaps

Developing countries will only comply with ‘control measures’ on plastic if they are compensated for the cost they entail, India said in a proposal at the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations on Wednesday (November 27, 2024). This is India’s first substantive move during the talks being held at the South Korean city of Busan.

Echoing a principle from climate change negotiations, India has also emphasised that there must be a transfer of technologies from developed to developing nations that must respect “national circumstances.”

Exactly what these ‘control measures’ and ‘costs’ are has not been specified yet. They are among a plethora of crucial undefined terms; in fact, there is still no agreed definition for the word ‘plastic’ as far as the treaty is concerned. These and many other concepts are at the heart of the negotiations, involving around 170 countries.

New multilateral fund

India has also proposed that a new dedicated multilateral fund be created with contributions to be “additional and distinct” from other financial transfers. This fund would be governed by a duly constituted subsidiary body that will also facilitate “...transfer of technology from developed countries to developing countries, for achieving a just transition towards sustainable production and consumption of plastics, in accordance with national circumstances under the financial mechanism,” India’s submission added.

The proposed new fund will provide “grant-based finance to developing countries, and the developed countries will be mandated to replenish the fund on a periodic basis and also provide flexibility of accepting private funds based upon agreed modalities,” the Environment Ministry said in a statement.

End waste, reduce production

Officially called the 5th Intergovernmental Negotiations Committee (INC), which is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the talks are scheduled to conclude on December 1. The purpose of these talks is to evolve a consensus text setting the ground for periodic meetings akin to the better-known annual Conference of Parties (COPs) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. This base text will undergo modifications at these meetings provided there is consensus on every word and line in the deliberated text and these, it is hoped, will enable signatory countries to move towards a future where they are bound to enforce measures to control and eliminate plastic waste.

More ambitiously, the treaty aims – and this is the tinder box – to have countries cut the production of plastic itself and as a consequence, plastic polymers, which are components of most products undergirding modern economies.

India has a significant petrochemicals refining industry and while it has banned several kinds of single-use plastic, it has been far from successful at reining in plastic waste.

Solo proposal

Several other countries have articulated proposals regarding finance mechanisms. However, India is among the few that have gone solo in making submissions. A number of countries have spelt out proposals as groups or collective entities. These generally carry more weight, increasing their likelihood of appearing in final texts.

To evolve a final text, the UN secretariat has created four ‘contact’ groups. Countries participate in all groups, with their members in all negotiating teams. All groups have clear-cut tasks. Group 1 will discuss plastic products and chemicals of concern as used in plastic products, exemptions, plastic product design, supply, and the foundational definitions of terms. Group 2 will discuss emissions and releases, plastic waste management, existing plastic pollution, and what is needed for a just transition. Group 3 is focussed on finance, including the establishment of a financial mechanism, capacity building, technical assistance, and technology transfer, including international cooperation, while Group 4’s talks deal with implementation and compliance, national plans, reporting, and effectiveness, among other issues.

As is typical at such negotiations, despite reaching the halfway point of the talks, none of the contact groups have managed to achieve consensus on even one of the 32 articles that are part of the base text, called a ‘non paper’ in the parlance of UN treaty negotiations.

‘A just transition’

In verbal ‘interventions,’ where countries publicly raise their concerns to the INC Chair, the tenor of India’s submissions are that speed ought not to trump the spirit of consensus, inclusivity, and transparency. While many countries have addressed various proposals in the several contact groups, India has so far restricted itself to formal proposals on finance mechanisms.

While national representatives at these talks are in principle committed to an agreement, many are worried that a treaty on plastic pollution will restrict the production and supply of plastic and polymers, disrupting their economies. On the other end of the spectrum are Pacific island nations such as Tuvalu, Palau, and Fiji, who are demanding ambitious action on restraining both plastic waste and production. They point out that the marine pollution from dumping plastic waste as well as their limited capacity to respond has resulted in existential threats to their countries.

“The progress that we have made is indeed slow. This is also a forum where countries present not only the issues they face but also their frustrations,” UNEP executive director Inger Andersen said at a press conference on Wednesday. “But I have been around long enough – and we have about 21 different treaties – to know that we can reach agreements and consensus rapidly.”