The talks collapsed in late 2024 with nations unable to agree on how to stop millions of tonnes of plastic waste from entering the environment each year.
Ahead of the next round of negotiations in August, ministers from 95 countries issued a symbolic call for a binding treaty that caps plastic production and phases out harmful chemicals.
“This declaration sends a clear and strong message: we will not give up,” France’s environment minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice in southern France, where the statement was issued.
“We must reduce our production and consumption of plastics.”
So-called “high-ambition” nations have long pushed for the accord to include caps on the manufacture of new plastic, which is largely made from chemicals derived from fossil fuels.
An opposing group of “like-minded” countries — mostly oil and petrochemical giants — have rejected calls for production limits, and pushed instead for a treaty that prioritises waste management.
Mexico’s environment minister Alicia Barcena said caps on plastic were critical “to send a message on the root of the plastic crisis” and recycling and waste management alone would not solve the problem.
In 2019, the world produced around 460 million tonnes of plastic, a figure that has doubled since 2000, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.