Since the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted Resolution 5/14 (pdf) in March 2022, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee has convened multiple sessions to develop an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution (referred here as ‘the treaty’), with the aim of concluding the work by end of 2024. WWF calls on world leaders to deliver, by the final negotiation session, the treaty that people and nature need by securing in the treaty text all four essential elements of a credible pathway to end plastic pollution.

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The new treaty on plastic pollution presents a unique opportunity for countries to tackle this global problem together, through common global rules: a well-designed, effective treaty can harness the collective power and joint resources of the international community, to deliver systemic change across the full plastic life cycle and reverse the currently worsening plastic pollution trajectory.

As a priority, states must pursue binding, global obligations on the most problematic and concerning issues across the full plastic lifecycle, and the necessary means for all parties to implement them. Importantly, the treaty must be equipped to strengthen measures and expand states’ efforts over time.

The Global Plastic Navigator tracks states’ level of support for these essential elements in the treaty, as key indicators for an ambitious and effective treaty to end plastic pollution. WWF’s statement on the treaty must-haves (pdf) provides further information on the four essential elements in the treaty that together provide a strong starting point and a credible, well-supported pathway to end plastic pollution.

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