This is a brief summary of the outcomes of the Third Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.
The third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) on Plastic Pollution was held on 13-19 November, 2023. There was limited support for measures in the treaty to reduce the overall production of plastics. However, a wide majority of countries supported measures eliminating toxic chemicals from plastics. Also, over 130 countries endorsed a proposal initiated by Switzerland and Uruguay to advance work on chemicals of concern and polymers of concern for intersessional work. Unfortunately, late in the negotiations no agreement could be reached, so there will be no intersessional work between INC-3 and INC-4, which takes place in April 2024.
Still, it remains clear by the number of governments who endorsed the Swiss-Uruguayan proposal that chemicals of concern remains a critical issue for most governments.
Outcomes
In short there were 3 outcomes from INC-3:
- Member states made interventions on the different provisions in the Zero Draft, with comments compiled to one consolidated text with options for the different provisions. The consolidated version will be used at INC-4 and will be made available online by December 31.
- There was no agreement on intersessional work so there will be no intersessional work until after INC-4.
- A new chair, Ambassador Luis Vayas from Ecuador, was unanimously elected.
Contact Groups
The work of INC-3 was organized around three Contact Groups:
- Contact Group 1 addressed Part I and Part II of the Zero Draft
- Contact Group 2 focused on Part III and IV of the Zero Draft
- Contact Group 3 dealt with elements not covered in previous sessions including, principles, scope and definition.
Outcome(s) of Contact Group 1:
- Co-facilitators’ updated full compilation of the revised zero draft text.
- Co-facilitators’ full compilation of possible mergers for Members’ proposals.
Outcomes of contact group 2:
- Co-facilitators’ full compilation of the revised zero draft text.
- Co-facilitators’ full compilation of possible mergers for Members’ proposals.
Outcomes of contact group 3:
- Outcome regarding Part I, Part V and Part VI of the zero draft text of the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
- Recommendations on possible intersessional work and its modalities (no agreement was reached on intersessional work).
Text
INC-3 created a merged document verified by Member States as a negotiation starting point for INC-4 taking place on 21-30 April 2024 in Canada. The revised draft text from INC-3 will be available (in English) on the INC website by 31 December 2023.
The plenary decided the following in relation to the compilation of the text:
During INC-3, co-facilitators of Contact Groups 1 and 2 prepared merged texts on the basis of compilations of submissions, annexed in the meeting report, and statements from Members on the zero-draft text (UNEP/PP/INC.3/4). These merged texts were then validated by Members in those contact groups and became the outcome documents of those contact groups.
The committee requests the Secretariat to compile, into a single revised draft text from I INC-3, the merged texts put forward by Contact Groups 1 and 2 and the outcome document of Contact Group 3, following the outline of the zero-draft text.
When compiling the revised draft text from INC-3, the Secretariat is requested to standardize the formatting of the document, and to correct any clear typographical errors in the document, without making any substantive changes to its contents.
The Secretariat will make the revised draft text from INC3 available on the INC website in English by 31 December 2023. The revised draft text from INC3 will be the starting point and basis for textual negotiations at INC-4, without prejudice to the right of any Member to propose additions, deletions or modifications in the course of negotiations at INC-4.
Intersessional work
The Three Contact Groups identified potential areas for inter-sessional work, but consensus was not reached for any of them, thus there will be no intersessional work between INC-3 and INC-4.
The areas on which there was convergence on carrying out intersessional work included:
- Information on regulatory approaches, measures and actions taken on chemicals of concern related to plastic products that members consider problematic, and intentionally added microplastics, and whether there are safe and affordable alternatives.
- Options, governance, operationalization, functioning, resource mobilization of multilateral financial mechanisms dedicated to multilateral environmental agreements and in other relevant areas, including standalone and existing structures as well as lessons learned, to inform the discussion of the future financial mechanism of the instrument.
Election of the Chair and Related Meetings
Ambassador Luis Vayas from Ecuador was unanimously elected as the Chair for INC-4, INC-5, and the Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Plastic Pollution Treaty in 2025.
Peru and Rwanda announced a joint initiative to host the Diplomatic Conference of the plastic treaty: the KigaLima Convention while Ecuador had announced its initiative to host the Diplomatic Conference at the Galapagos Islands.
INC-4 will be held in Ottawa, Canada in April 2023.