When delegates from nearly every nation gathered in Geneva earlier this month, the meeting on the agenda was procedural but carried heavy symbolic weight: electing a new chair to lead negotiations on what could become the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution.
In a one-day resumed session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, known as INC-5.3, governments selected Julio Cordano, Director of Environment, Climate Change and Oceans at Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to steer the stalled talks. His election marks the most consequential development in the process since the previous chair resigned last year, leaving negotiations without leadership at a moment of deepening division.
The decision restores institutional continuity to a process that, while still alive, has struggled to maintain momentum.
An Ambitious Mandate Takes Shape
The effort to negotiate a global agreement on plastic pollution began in 2022, when governments meeting at the United Nations Environment Assembly agreed that plastic pollution had reached a level requiring coordinated global action. They launched negotiations toward a legally binding instrument designed to address plastics across their entire life cycle, from production and design to disposal and environmental leakage.
Early negotiating sessions carried a sense of urgency and optimism. Delegations from around the world convened alongside scientists, industry representatives, and civil society groups, debating how to rein in plastic pollution that had spread from deep-sea trenches to human bloodstreams. The mandate was intentionally broad, reflecting the scale and complexity of the problem.
Momentum Gives Way to Deadlock
As negotiations progressed, however, ambition collided with political reality. By the fifth formal negotiating session, deep divisions had hardened. A group of countries pushed for binding limits on plastic production and stronger controls on hazardous chemicals. Others resisted such measures, favoring voluntary approaches and downstream waste management over restrictions on production.
The result was paralysis. Talks dragged on without agreement on a consolidated treaty text. Procedural disputes crowded out substantive progress. When the session ended, there was no clear roadmap for how negotiations would continue.
Shortly afterward, the chair of the negotiating committee stepped down, an unusual move in a United Nations process that relies heavily on continuity and consensus. His resignation underscored the depth of the impasse and left the talks without clear leadership for months.
A Procedural Reset in Geneva
The resumed session in Geneva was convened to address that vacuum. Delegates did not debate treaty language or revisit unresolved policy questions. Instead, they focused on restoring basic governance to the process.
Julio Cordano’s election was widely seen as a necessary first step rather than a breakthrough. A veteran diplomat with experience in multilateral environmental negotiations, he takes on the role at a moment when trust among parties is fragile and expectations are sharply divided.
In remarks following his election, Julio Cordano emphasized the urgency of the task ahead, noting that plastic pollution affects every country and that cooperation is essential if the world is to respond effectively.
What Lies Ahead
With leadership restored, attention now turns to what comes next. Governments have yet to agree on when substantive negotiations will resume or how they will overcome the divisions that have repeatedly stalled progress. Questions remain about whether the process will rely exclusively on consensus, a rule that has allowed a small number of countries to slow negotiations, or whether new approaches will be considered.
Civil society groups and scientific observers are calling for a more transparent and inclusive process, one that ensures evidence and frontline perspectives are not sidelined as talks grow more technical and politically sensitive.
A Test of Global Cooperation
The plastics treaty negotiations have become a broader test of multilateral cooperation at a time when global governance is under strain. A strong agreement could reshape how plastics are produced, regulated, and managed worldwide. A weak or delayed outcome would reinforce doubts about the international community’s ability to confront environmental crises driven by powerful economic interests.
For now, the election of a new chair has stabilized a process that risked drifting into irrelevance. Whether it can move beyond procedural repair and deliver a meaningful agreement remains the central question facing negotiators in the months ahead.
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