Landmark plastic talks collapse with the U.S. opposing key production limits

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🗞️ Driving the news: Landmark global treaty talks to curb plastic pollution collapsed in Geneva after 11 days, with the U.S. opposing production limits seen by many nations as essential to solving the crisis
• The Trump administration rejected caps on plastic production or restrictions on additives, aligning with Saudi Arabia, Russia, and others, and clashing with the EU, African, Caribbean, and Pacific nations

🔭 The context: The world now produces 460 million tons of plastic annually, only 9% of which is recycled; the rest ends up in landfills, incinerated, or polluting oceans and food systems
• Many countries advocate cutting production alongside improving waste management, while the U.S. pushed solely for better waste handling
• The stance marks a reversal from Biden-era negotiations, when Washington supported global production targets, and reflects the influence of U.S. petrochemical interests

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Without production limits, plastic use is projected to nearly triple by 2060, locking in decades of environmental and health impacts
• Plastics are a major growth market for fossil fuel companies, even as renewable energy eats into oil demand
• The breakdown underscores the challenge of securing consensus in global environmental diplomacy amid political polarization

⏭️ What's next: A future negotiating session remains possible, though no date is set
• Talks risk stalling indefinitely if the divide over production cuts persists, jeopardizing what was intended to be the most significant environmental accord since the Paris Agreement

💬 One quote: “Characterizing any of our discussions in terms of winners and losers only makes us all losers.” — Kate Lynch, Australia’s lead negotiator

📈 One stat: Global plastic production has risen from 2 million tons in 1950 to 460 million tons today — with microplastics now found in food and human bodies

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