Tough Talks Ahead for U.N. Plastic Pollution Deal, Chinese Experts Say

Limited progress was made during United Nations Environment Programme negotiations last month in advancing a global treaty on reducing plastic pollution, with Chinese observers warning of more tough talks ahead if parties with divergent interests are to come together in agreement.

“If the communication remains in such a state in the next year and one month, especially if views that are so widely divergent persist throughout the negotiation process, I don’t think it would be able to move forward easily,” said Liu Hua, a policy advisor at the Shenzhen Zero Waste Environmental Public Welfare Undertakings Development Center, who attended the meeting.