Greenpeace’s demands for the Global Plastics Treaty

The Global Plastics Treaty is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve the plastics crisis. For the sake of our collective future, we cannot waste this moment.

We are in the fifth round and the most critical moment of treaty negotiations. Now is the time to escalate the pressure so that our demands are not ignored: the treaty must cut plastic production and end single-use plastic to solve this global crisis.

Greenpeace’s demands for the Global Plastics Treaty:

• The Global Plastics Treaty must cut total plastic production by at least 75% by 2040 to ensure that we are staying below 1.5° C for our climate and to protect our health, our rights, our communities and our environment.
• This is a battle for our survival. As expected, the petrochemical industry, corporations and some governments are trying to weaken the treaty’s ambition. If they have their way, plastic production will triple by 2050. We can’t let them.
• As we head into the last round of negotiations, blocker countries continue to oppose meaningful provisions. We need high-ambition countries to show more courage and fight for ambition to reach a treaty that will cut plastic production and end single-use plastic.
• The Bridge to Busan declaration, signed by 34 countries, shows there is support for an agreement that cuts global plastic production to limit global temperature increase below 1.5° C. High-ambition countries can show how ambitious they really are by signing on. We cannot solve the pollution crisis unless we turn off the tap.
• The Global Plastics Treaty must be built upon a foundation of human rights. It must reduce inequalities, end waste colonialism, prioritize human health, center justice, and ensure dignity for all.
• An effective treaty must protect biodiversity, safeguard our climate, and ensure a just transition to a reuse-based economy.

A strong and ambitious plastics treaty will deliver a cleaner, safer planet for us all.

We need a major reduction in plastic production to reduce the harm that plastic brings to our health, our biodiversity, and our climate. Given the urgency of this plastics crisis, we need to set a baseline based on an agreed timeline, and then build from there based on newly available science.

The plastics crisis touches every corner of the globe. It is in the deepest parts of our oceans and on the highest mountain peaks and even in our bodies. During the negotiations process, we will show how an unstoppable global movement can achieve an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty that will turn off the plastics tap and finally, end the age of plastic – for our health, our communities, climate, and the planet.