"The Thinker's Burden" by Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong stands outside the UN in Geneva ahead of global plastics treaty talks from 4 to 14 August 2025. A reinterpretation of Rodin’s Thinker, the piece depicts a man cradling a baby atop Mother Earth, who is submerged in plastic waste. (Von Wong Productions 2025)

❝ Petrostates are holding plastics treaty talks hostage. Countries should vote them down. As a minority threatens to block final negotiations in Geneva for a plastics treaty, countries should invoke their right to vote to ensure an ambitious agreement is reached, write Philippe Bolo (France), Fabien Fivaz (Switzerland), and Natacha Kpochan (Benin) on behalf of the Interparliamentary Coalition to End Plastic Pollution.

Ambition or compromise? Geneva plastics treaty talks test global resolve. Nations will meet in Geneva this week to try to finalise a treaty to stem the global tide of plastic pollution. Will they hold the line on strict rules, or give ground on ambition to appease top plastic producers?

🥁DRUMROLL. Over 1,400 delegates representing 179 member states are expected at talks beginning tomorrow at the Palais des Nations to finalise a legally binding agreement on plastic pollution addressing its production, design and disposal. Nearly 2,000 participants from 618 observer organisations are also set to attend.

Oil spill. Advocates for a strong treaty will agonise over the awaited presence of fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists in Geneva, after a record 220 of them attended the last talks in South Korea in late 2024, and some were even accused of harassing campaigners.

A recent report by the environmental NGO Greenpeace reveals how lobbyists outnumbered some national delegations, scientists and Indigenous representatives.

Trading waste. UN Trade and Development (Unctad) reported last week that while plastics have powered the global economy – constituting $1.1 trillion worth of traded items or five per cent of global trade last year – three quarters of products made of the non-biodegradable material have ended up as waste, polluting land, seas and ultimately our bodies.

Upside. The good news is that the market for plastic substitutes has been growing at a clipped pace of 5.6 per cent, to reach $485 billion in global trade, according to Unctad.

And sustainable policies could further boost alternatives, such as by converting agricultural byproducts into compostable packaging or seaweed into bioplastics.

– By Paula Dupraz-Dobias