Source · Select Committees · Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
We are pleased that the previous Government signed the UK up to the UN Environment...
Recommendation
We are pleased that the previous Government signed the UK up to the UN Environment Assembly agreement working towards a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution, and welcome the UK’s founding membership of the related High Ambition Coalition within the forthcoming negotiations. However, we believe that, without the inclusion of legally binding targets, the treaty risks being ineffective in tackling one of the biggest environmental threats our planet faces. We urge the new Government to reaffirm commitments to the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) 62 The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste initiative to deal with plastic pollution and to the High Ambition Coalition supporting the process. We also recommend that the new Government plays a leading role in future UNEA negotiations by pushing for legally binding targets to be included in the treaty. (Paragraph 129) Improving data systems
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and supports the inclusion of legally binding global obligations as part of the treaty and intends to use the best available evidence to determine which measures will be most effective.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s view on the importance of working towards a global treaty to tackle plastic pollution and the inclusion of legally binding targets. The UK supported the ambitious resolution 5/14 at UNEA 5.2 that kickstarted negotiations for a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution. An Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee process with its own governance and decision-making powers has now been established so that negotiations will take place independently from UNEA. As laid out in resolution 5/14, the treaty is likely to contain a mixture of voluntary and legally binding approaches. As a member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, the UK strongly supports the inclusion of legally binding global obligations as part of the treaty and intends to use the best available evidence to determine which measures will be most effective.