UN reaches resolution to end plastic pollution

Heads of state, environment ministers and other representatives from 175 countries today adopted a historic resolution at the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly aimed at ending plastic pollution by 2024 and creating a legally binding international agreement.

The resolution addresses the entire life cycle of plastics, including their production, design and disposal. The resolution decided to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee, which will start work in 2022, with the goal of completing a draft legally binding global agreement by the end of 2024.

The executive director of the United Nations Environment Program pointed out that this is the most important multilateral agreement on the environment since the Paris Agreement. UNEP will work with any willing government and business along the plastics value chain to move away from single-use plastics and mobilize private funding to remove barriers to investment in research and the circular economy.