13 h. ago The Guardian view on the collapse of environmental talks: petrostates blocked a global plastics deal, but we must not despair | Editorial

The failure of UN talks in Geneva should anger us all. The increasing threat to our health, our environments and wildlife must be addressed. By ensuring the collapse of UN talks seeking the first legally binding agreement on tackling plastic pollution, blockers in Geneva have failed the next generation. Most states are willing, even determined, to act. But the US joined petrostates obstructing action. Their children too will live to regret that.To say that plastics are part of our lives from cradle to grave is an understatement: microplastics have been found in placentas, as well as blood and breast milk. While we can’t yet be certain of the full impact of the substances, we know that many have been linked to health effects and that foetuses, infants and young children are highly vulnerable. Microplastics have been shown to damage human cells in laboratory experiments, and a review published this month documented how exposure is associated with increased risks of miscarriage, stillb...

Economics

17 h. ago Minister ‘hugely disappointed’ as talks to agree UN plastics treaty fail

Emma Hardy said she is however ‘extremely proud’ of how UK negotiators worked tirelessly to seek an ambitious deal.

Politics

2 d. ago Plastic treaty talks nearing collapse as nations remain deadlocked on production

Environmental organisations warn that without urgent compromises the session could fail to produce a treaty capable of tackling the scale of the crisis

Events

1 week ago The Guardian view on plastic pollution: global action is desperately needed to deal with this scourge | Editorial

Delegates at UN treaty talks must not allow negotiations to be derailed again by fossil fuel interestsPlastic pollution has reached the most remote and inaccessible parts of our beleaguered planet. It has been found in Greenland’s ice cap, near the summit of Mount Everest, and in the deepest depths of the western Pacific Ocean. Nature programmes have sounded the alarm over a human-made crisis that has become an environmental scourge and a serious threat to our health. Yet global production of plastics is on course to triple to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060, after increasing by more than 200 times over the past 75 years.This gloomy backdrop should inject a sense of urgency into UN-convened talks in Switzerland this week, aimed at agreeing a binding global plastics treaty. In 2022, when 173 countries committed to work towards such an accord, there was widespread relief that at last a multilateral route was to be taken towards solving a quintessentially global problem. Sadl...

Economics

1 week ago UN plastic pollution talks must result in ambitious treaty, leading expert says

Professor Richard Thompson, a marine litter expert, says delegates must act decisively to ‘look next generation in the eye’Delegates at the UN plastic pollution treaty talks in Geneva must secure an ambitious global agreement so they can look future generations in the eye, one of the world’s leading marine litter experts has said.Prof Richard Thompson, who was named one of Time’s 100 most influential people this year for his groundbreaking work on plastic pollution, said decisive action was needed to protect human health and the planet. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Countries under pressure to finalise UN plastic pollution treaty as talks resume

Countries are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, where they will hope to break a deadlock in talks for a legally binding agreement on plastics.

Events