Role of Trade in the Fight Against Plastic Pollution: Refresher for New Delegates

The International Institute for Sustainable Development organized a seminar on the “Role of Trade in the Fight Against Plastic Pollution: Refresher for New Delegates”. The seminar was held on Monday 3 October 2022 at the WTO.

The amount of plastic waste produced globally is on track to almost triple by 2060. In February 2022 the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted a historic resolution launching negotiations towards a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution by the end of 2024. At the WTO, a group of members has been working since November 2020 in the Informal Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (IDP), which aims to establish how cooperation at the WTO could contribute to efforts to reduce plastics pollution and promote the transition to more environmentally sustainable trade in plastics.

The session was designed for delegates with responsibility for trade and environment work at the WTO and to those new to the file. The session provided a short and focused introduction to trade’s role fighting plastic pollution and the work done by the WTO members in the context of the IDP so far, as well as the links to the broader context of the UN negotiations for a global plastics treaty and expectations surrounding that process.