BUSAN, South Korea — Global talks to forge a landmark treaty aimed at reducing plastic pollution broke down after negotiators from more than 170 countries remained deadlocked over how to curb the world’s growing mountain of plastic waste.
The marathon negotiations in this port city collapsed early Monday, local time, after participants could not agree on the best path forward. More than 100 countries favored measures to ratchet back plastic production, while oil-rich nations pushed back, arguing that the world should target plastic pollution, not plastic itself.
The talks in Busan were the culmination of two years of fast-tracked negotiations on plastics. In 2022, the U.N. Environment Assembly, which represents all 193 member states, said it would create a binding treaty by 2024 that would tackle the world’s “high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution.” Member countries met nearly half-a-dozen times to craft an agreement, and had hoped to finalize it in South Korea.