Guilbeault warns that a global treaty against plastic isn't enough, even more action will be needed

Environmental group Greenpeace, who is present at the summit, want the agreement to include a 75 percent reduction in plastic production by 2040.

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  • April 24, 2024
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Guilbeault warns that a global treaty against plastic isn't enough, even more action will be needed
The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld
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Limiting production is a necessity in the war against plastic, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said during the UN plastic waste summit in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Guilbeault warned that a global treaty to end plastic waste alone is not ambitious enough, implying that more action needed to be taken, but that he was "confident" that an "ambitious" plastic pollution treaty would be achieved by the year's end.

The Liberal environment czar went so far as to say that a treaty would not be acceptable to him if there was not some kind of limit on plastic production.

"What I've heard in the last two days... in roundtables with many different countries, is that people don't just want an agreement, they want an ambitious agreement," he said.

Environmental group Greenpeace—a group of which Guilbeault was a member himself—is present at the summit and called for the agreement to include a 75 percent reduction in plastic production by 2040. Plastic producers, though, argue that alternatives to plastic are pricier and more energy-intensive.

Participants are eyeing something similar to the Paris Climate Agreement's stance on greenhouse gas emissions, proposing that each nation establishes individual targets to curtail production. Conversely, another proposal suggests that plastic production doesn't necessarily need to be constrained, provided effective waste management measures are implemented.

Since 2022, Environment and Climate Change Canada has been working to establish a plastics registry, akin to its monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions.

“What we’re aiming to do with this registry is to ensure that there’s more transparency in Canada on the production and use of plastics,” Guilbeault said on Monday.

“It is hard to tackle a problem if you don’t know what it is, where it is, what’s being used.”

Guilbeault serves as the host minister for the talks and holds a significant position, though he isn't directly leading the negotiations. That responsibility lies with Luis Vayas Valdivieso, an Ecuadorean diplomat appointed to chair the treaty discussions last fall.

“We are at a crucial moment in our process,” he said, according to The Canadian Press. “We know there are difficulties but I am confident that we can find ways to build shared understandings and identify areas of convergence.”

Canada Climate Change Steven Guilbeault Environment and Climate Change Canada news
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