Research demonstrates that plastics and its associated chemicals are disrupting basic Earth system processes and harming the natural environment and living organisms including humans.
To combat plastic pollution, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been hosting the Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC), where 184 Member States are discussing a global legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution. After negotiations in late 2024 at the fifth INC session in Busan, South Korea did not conclude with a treaty, Member States and observers reconvened at INC-5.2 in Geneva, Switzerland from August 4 to August 15, 2025.
After ten days of further negotiations, countries could not yet agree on a new global plastics treaty. A large group of countries dissatisfied with the proposed text refused to accept a weak agreement that falls short of protecting environmental and human health. The most recently proposed draft text would not have been able to fulfill the UNEA 5/14 mandate to end plastic pollution when considering the scientific evidence. The committee has now agreed to extend the negotiations into yet another meeting session with dates and location still to be determined.
Among the most contentious provisions were effective obligations to reach sustainable levels of plastic production, addressing health, and accounting for impacts across the full life cycle of plastics. While a small group of countries actively denied the scientific evidence for why such provisions would be essential to protecting the environment and human health, most of the Member States engaged constructively with it.
The entire Single-Use Material Decelerator (SUM’D) Executive Board (which guides the UP Scorecard) of Dianna Cohen, Dagny Tucker, and Jane Muncke, along with other members of the SUM’D Steering Committee, were in Geneva for the negotiations in their professional roles. The SUM’D develops and manages the UP Scorecard.
SUM’D is a dedicated team of leading food service companies, NGOs, and technical experts. Dianna Cohen, founder of the Plastic Pollution Coalition collaborated with international NGOs to support Member States in reaching an effective treaty; Dagny Tucker, co-founder and co-executive director of Perpetual, led discussions surrounding efficient and safe reusable foodware systems; and Jane Muncke, managing director of the Food Packaging Forum, communicated about plastic chemicals of concern and the importance of addressing health in the global plastics treaty at talks before and during negotiations.
No matter which metrics UN negotiators ultimately decide to incorporate into the Plastics Treaty, the UP Scorecard has the framework to help organizations make the necessary decisions to live up to it.
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Laura Paddison (August 15, 2025) “Global plastic treaty talks end in failure as countries remain bitterly divided over how to tackle the crisis.” CNN
Esme Stallard and Mark Poynting (August 15, 2025) “Global plastic talks collapse as countries remain deeply divided.” BBC
Karen McVeigh, and Emma Bryce (August 15, 2025) “Plastic pollution talks fail as negotiators in Geneva reject draft treaties.” The Guardian
Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty (August 15, 2025) “Independent Science Ready to Support Next Steps to Achieve an Effective Plastics Treaty.”
This article was originally published by the Food Packaging Forum and has been lightly edited for the UP Scorecard.
