INC 5.2: Still No Deal on Plastic Pollution

In early August 2025, world leaders, negotiators, and experts flew into Geneva for INC 5.2, another round of talks meant to hammer out a global plastics treaty. Expectations were high. This was supposed to be the moment the world finally agreed on how to end plastic pollution. Instead, nearly two weeks later, everyone left with empty hands. No deal. No real progress. Just a longer, messier draft and a room full of frustrated delegates.

The fight came down to a single, unavoidable question: should the treaty cap plastic production? For countries with massive fossil fuel interests such as the United States, Russia, and India the answer was absolutely not. Meanwhile, nations drowning in plastic waste were begging for binding limits to stop the flood at its source. The divide was impossible to bridge.

By the end, the treaty text was a nightmare with over 1,500 unresolved sections. Worse still, negotiators could not even agree which version to work from next. The drafts on the table leaned heavily on voluntary measures and left out strong protections for health, the environment, and vulnerable communities.

Then there is the matter of who gets to participate. More than 230 lobbyists from fossil fuel and chemical industries showed up in Geneva, outnumbering civil society voices. Indigenous leaders, waste pickers, and frontline communities had little space to speak, even though they live with the daily consequences of plastic waste.

Human rights and justice came up in side conversations but never made it into the text. For many, that was a red flag. Some groups are now pushing for a “treaty of the willing,” an agreement led by countries ready to move forward without being dragged down by the holdouts.

For communities already overwhelmed by plastic such as small island nations, coastal towns, and low-income countries this failure is not just politics. It is survival. Their coastlines are buried in waste. Their fisheries and economies are suffering. Every delay means they bear the cost alone.

INC 5.2 was a reminder that while the world can gather in one room, real action is still out of reach. Until leaders are willing to put people and the planet ahead of industry profits, the promise of a global plastics treaty will remain just that: a promise.