Saudi Arabia Leads Pushback Against Global Plastic Treaty

A week after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, was accused of being a “wrecking ball” jeopardizing global climate talks, Saudi officials are leading an effort to block a United Nations deal to tackle plastic pollution, negotiators said.

Delegates from more than 170 nations have been engaged in tense negotiations in Busan, South Korea, to draft a global plastic treaty that addresses the growing problem of plastic waste.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other producers of petroleum, which is used to make most of the world’s plastic, have pushed back against measures that would address plastic pollution by placing curbs on excessive plastic production. The Saudis and their allies have also said they oppose any treaty that would start to list and phase out chemicals present in plastic that are thought to be harmful to health.

In closed-door negotiations late Saturday, Saudi Arabia, along with other nations, was pushing to delete entire paragraphs from the treaty text on who should finance the costs of implementing the agreement, according to a delegate with direct knowledge of the proceedings.

Saudi delegates had argued in their submissions to the negotiations that tackling supply “penalizes industries without addressing the actual issue of plastic pollution.”

Delegates and observers have said that throughout the talks, the Saudis have insisted on unanimity for every decision and have raised frequent objections over procedure, slowing down progress.