Some environmental groups in the plastics treaty talks say President Joe Biden's administration is dialing back support for limits on virgin resin production, but a White House statement said it's committed to an ambitious agreement that addresses the supply of plastic.
Some, but not all, environmental groups participating in a treaty briefing call on Nov. 12 with U.S. officials said they interpreted comments as the Biden administration signaling a shift away from virgin resin production caps.
In August, the administration had said it would back global targets limiting plastics production, shifting its support toward what has been a contentious issue in the talks.
That was a switch from its earlier, more middle ground position. The August announcement was praised by environmentalists and slammed by the plastics industry.
Now, some environmental groups are interpreting the Nov. 12 call as backing away.
"The U.S. has backtracked from the signal they gave in August that their position would be shifting to support global production caps and time lines," said Sarah Martik, executive director of the Center for Coalfield Justice, during a Nov. 15 online news conference organized by Break Free From Plastic and other groups.
"Members of the U.S. delegation confirmed that they would not be supporting universal obligations for production caps or time lines that would phase down the production of primary plastic polymers," Martik said. "By doing so, they indicated that they did not see a landing zone for those measures at the upcoming negotiations."
In a Nov. 15 statement, however, the White House Council on Environmental Quality said it supported measures to address the "supply of primary plastic polymers."
"The Biden-Harris Administration remains committed to concluding negotiations at [the fifth round of treaty talks] and securing an ambitious, legally binding global instrument to tackle plastic pollution based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full lifecycle of plastic," a CEQ spokesperson said. "Among other items, the United States supports ensuring that the global instrument addresses plastic products, chemicals used in plastic products, and the supply of primary plastic polymers."
CEQ said it supported using a draft treaty text called a "non-paper" as the basis for talks. The non-paper was developed in recent weeks by the chair of the treaty's Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to try to break deadlocks that stymied the first four rounds of the talks.
The fifth and final negotiating round, called INC5 is scheduled from Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 in Busan, South Korea, but some observers have debated whether governments should extend the talks.