In March 2022, the UN Environment Assembly decided to stop plastic pollution by creating an international agreement. This agreement would cover all stages of plastic use, from making it to throwing it away. The UN member states, which met for more than a week in Nairobi, agreed to form an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC). The INC's job is to create a legally-binding agreement by the end of 2024. The agreement was called "End plastic pollution: Towards an international legally binding instrument."

By 2025, the INC had held six meetings but did not reach an agreement. Disagreements arose between most countries, which wanted a strong treaty, and a smaller group of countries that produce petrochemicals. Some countries, including those in the High Ambition Coalition (which had 75 members as of September 2025), wanted a strong treaty. The draft treaty either had many disagreements or was too weak for these countries to accept. People who work to influence decisions were often criticized. After the meeting in Geneva in August 2025, Inger Andersen of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which hosted the committee, said more time was needed for countries to regroup.

Other people from different groups were also present to watch the treaty negotiations.

Timeline

After UNEA-5.2, the task was given to the INC to begin its work by the end of 2022. The goal was to "complete a draft global legally binding agreement by the end of 2024."

Work on the treaty started with a temporary meeting of a working group in Dakar from May 30 to June 1, 2022. During this meeting, Member States created a plan for future meetings through 2024, set rules for how meetings would be conducted, and outlined the first tasks for the INC’s first meeting.

• The first meeting of the negotiating committee (INC-1) happened in Punta del Este from November 28 to December 2, 2022. The meeting included adopting the rules for how the committee would operate. More than 2,300 people from 160 countries attended.
• The second meeting of the negotiating committee (INC-2) took place in Paris from May 29 to June 2, 2023.
• The third meeting (INC-3) occurred from November 13 to 19, 2023, at the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Headquarters in Nairobi.
• The fourth meeting (INC-4) was held from April 23 to 29, 2024, in Ottawa. At this meeting, 196 fossil fuel lobbyists attended—more than the number of scientists.
• The fifth meeting, first part (INC-5.1), happened from November 25 to December 1, 2024, in Busan. This was meant to be the final round of talks, but no agreement was reached.
• The fifth meeting, second part (INC-5.2), occurred from August 5 to 15, 2025, in Geneva. The treaty was to be finalized at a meeting of representatives, but the negotiations failed, and no agreement was made.

An additional meeting took place in 2024 to help move the treaty negotiations forward (UNEA-6 in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2024).

Formats of negotiations

During INC sessions, discussions happened in different formats:

• Contact groups: Small groups that focused on specific parts of the treaty text. All countries with delegations could join and speak. Observers could watch but could not speak. Often, several contact groups met at the same time.
• Regional meetings: Private meetings where a group of countries discussed and agreed on their positions, such as groups based on UN regions or other coalitions. Some meetings allowed observers to attend, but not all.
• Informals: Private discussions held in a less formal way. The INC Secretariat still helped with details like meeting times and room setups. These meetings, called "informal-informals" or "infinfs," were even more casual.
• Plenaries: Official meetings where all negotiating countries gathered. These meetings started and ended the INC sessions and shared updates on progress. Plenaries were open to observers, broadcasted, and recorded. Some observer groups could give short comments if allowed by the INC Secretariat. A total of 29 plenaries were held during all six negotiation sessions.

In addition to these formal meetings, delegates and observers could join other activities, such as side events and press conferences.

Content

Members agreed that the treaty should apply to countries around the world, must be followed by all countries, and should cover every stage of plastics, including how they are made, used, and disposed of. It has been said that chemicals found in plastics, such as additives and other materials used during production, should also be considered.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin gave a daily summary of the talks happening during the negotiations.

Support for the treaty

Before UNEA-5.2, most United Nations member states said they supported creating a global treaty to address plastic pollution. During the treaty talks, the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution was formed to work toward a strong agreement.

Other groups, including businesses, civil society organizations, indigenous peoples, workers, trade unions, waste pickers, and scientists, publicly shared their support for the treaty.

Greenpeace activists hung banners with messages like "Big Oil Polluting Inside" and "Plastic Treaty Not For Sale" at the entrance to the Palais de Nations. They also painted the road black near the building to highlight the influence of industries involved in plastic production.

The artist Benjamin Von Wong placed an artwork at the Palais de Nations as a message to world leaders, urging them to agree on a strong treaty to address plastic pollution.