UN agrees to 'biggest green deal since Paris'
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The UN approved a landmark agreement to create the world's first global plastic pollution treaty.
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Scavengers sort recyclable plastic materials on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya February 26, 2022 (Reuters)
The United Nations approved an important agreement to establish the first-ever international plastic pollution treaty on Wednesday, and called it the most significant environmental deal since the Paris climate accord of 2015.
Talks were held for more than a week in Nairobi by member states to discuss the outline of a pact to limit increasing levels of plastic pollution.
The legally-binding plastic pollution treaty will be finalized by 2024.
"We're making history today and you should all be proud," said Espen Barth Eide, President of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA). "Plastic pollution has grown into an epidemic. With today's resolution, we are officially on track for a cure."
The treaty is expected to affect oil and chemical companies that produce raw plastic and consumer goods companies that sell products in single-use packaging. It will also affect the economies of plastic-producing countries, most notably the US, China, India, Saudi Arabia and Japan.
"The habitability of our planet is stake," Tim Grabiel, a lawyer with non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency in Nairobi said following the talks. "Plastic pollution is a planetary crisis on par with climate change and biodiversity loss."
