Dialogue

Plastics pollution and environmentally sustainable plastics trade *

A group of WTO members launched in November 2020 an initiative to explore how the WTO could contribute to efforts to reduce plastics pollution and promote the transition to more environmentally sustainable trade in plastics. The Dialogue on Plastics Pollution and Environmentally Sustainable Plastics Trade (DPP) is open to all WTO members and seeks to complement discussions in the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and other fora.

On this page:

See also:

The Dialogue at MC13

MC13 Outcomes

News

Participation

As of April 2024, WTO members are participating in the dialogue.

Meetings

2024 Meetings

12 April: Pre-Plenary meeting

26 January: Plenary meeting

Documents issued by the Dialogue

Documents issued in 2024

Objective of the talks

In their joint communication to the CTE after their inaugural meeting in November 2020 during the WTO Trade and Environment Week, the participants noted that the rising environmental, health and economic cost of plastics pollution — amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic — is of increasing concern to all countries, large and small, developed and developing.

They highlighted that, given the growing need for coordinated global action, the group would seek to identify opportunities for enhanced trade cooperation within the rules and mechanisms of the WTO to contribute to domestic, regional and global efforts to reduce plastics pollution and to support efforts in other fora. The dialogue is intended to be part of broader WTO discussions to advance environmental sustainability objectives.

Ministerial Statements

A Ministerial Statement issued in December 2021 sets out a roadmap and identifies some key areas on which the Dialogue will focus. These include: how to improve transparency of plastic trade flows, supply chains and trade policies; strengthening regulatory cooperation with other international bodies; identifying environmentally sustainable trade policies and mechanisms; and strengthening trade-related technical assistance for vulnerable economies, including least-developed countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Three workstreams were created by the IDP 2022 Plan adopted in February 2022 to move technical work forward: cross-cutting issues (e.g. transparency, technical assistance); promoting trade to tackle plastic pollution; and reduction to tackle plastic pollution and circular economy for plastics. The initiative's inclusive approach involves relevant stakeholders from the private sector, civil society, international organizations and academia who support discussions through technical expertise, experience and transparency.

In February 2024, for the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) the Dialogue coordinators prepared a Ministerial Statement (WT/MIN(24)/14) containing a series of principles and actions to ensure trade is part of the solution to the growing plastic pollution challenge, including to increase transparency of trade flows of plastics (e.g. of single-use plastics, plastic films and hard-to-recycle plastics), to reduce plastics and plastic products that are harmful to the environment or human health, or unnecessary single-use plastics and plastics packaging, associated with international trade that are not essential for medical or sanitary purposes, and to promote potential non-plastic substitutes, re-use/re-fill systems and technologies needed for the safe and sustainable management of plastic wastes. Related to each agreed action, a factual compilation document (INF/TE/IDP/RD/146/Rev.1) is attached to the Statement, consisting of trade-related practices already being adopted to tackle plastics pollution.

State of play

Cooperation with other international processes

The Dialogue co-sponsors have made mutual supportiveness with other international, regional and domestic efforts to address plastic pollution a core objective of their work. As expressed in the MC13 Ministerial Statement, this is particularly relevant to the ongoing efforts at the United Nations to conclude a new international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution by the end of 2024 being conducted by an Intergovernmental Negotiation Committee (INC). The Statement welcomes the timely conclusion of the agreement and includes among its shared principles ensuring the DPP work "is informed by and supports the ongoing INC negotiations as well as the implementation of relevant multilateral environmental agreements, and takes into account relevant technical and scientific developments." It also indicates that in its work towards "further concrete, pragmatic, and effective outcomes on these actions and understandings at the latest by MC14", the group "will reflect the results of the INC negotiations".

The INC Secretariat is a stakeholder of the DPP and constantly brief the group on relevant developments in the negotiations. Similarly, the WTO Secretariat observes INC negotiations, providing updates on relevant developments at the WTO. In the context of the WTO and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) bilateral cooperation, both secretariats cooperate closely and have and ongoing staff exchange agreement.

Following efforts by the Dialogue and other stakeholders, the World Customs Organization (WCO) has started discussing how to better identify plastics embedded in traded goods, single-use plastics, and other plastic goods in the context of the ongoing 2027 review of the Harmonized System (HS).

Next Steps

The MC13 Ministerial Statement calls for further "concrete, pragmatic and effective outcomes" by MC14. Dialogue co-sponsors will devise an updated workplan focused on building on and implementing the MC13 Ministerial Statement actions.

* The documents on this page relate to an initiative among a group of WTO members and are not part of a multilaterally agreed WTO process. Back to text

Key Dialogue's documents

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