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Oil, chemical industry lobbyists pile in to UN talk with curb plastics

Almost 200 fossil fuel and chemical market lobbyists plan to join today's United Nations settlements on the very first worldwide treaty to curb plastic contamination-- a 37% dive from the previous gathering in November, an analysis released on Thursday revealed.

The dive in registered market representatives at the talks in Ottawa, Canada, comes as settlements go into a crucial phase. There is simply one round of negotiations delegated work out a. final text that all nations settle on by the end of the year.

The objective is to produce a legally binding treaty that would. cover the whole lifecycle of plastic, from production to. disposal or reuse. But some nonrenewable fuel source and petrochemical. market groups, along with nations that count on those. markets, are opposed to any U.N. treaty that would impose. rigorous production caps or chemical or item phase-outs.

While more than 4,000 people have signed up to attend the. talks, civil society groups said the heavy presence of. agents of markets that would be the target of new. regulations could undermine the settlement procedure.

The existence of actors in the room who are responsible for. generating this crisis produces power imbalances that obstruct. development, said Rachel Radvany, environmental health advocate. at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), which. performed the analysis.

Comparable problems were made about the heavy representation. of nonrenewable fuel source industry lobbyists at last year's COP28 climate. change talks.

CIEL, a not-for-profit law group, utilized registration information offered. by the U.N. Environment Program, which is managing the. talks. CIEL counted agents of oil business, chemical. companies and their trade groups as lobbyists, as well as. non-profits or think-tanks that get substantial support from. those industries.

' FORTUNATE ACCESS'

Registered fossil fuel and chemical market lobbyists--. that include agents from business such as ExxonMobil. and Dow-- surpass the combined 180 diplomatic agents. of European Union delegations, the analysis discovered.

Such lobbyists also outnumber the 73 agents brought. by Pacific Small Island Developing States by more than 2 to. one.

Lobbyists are appearing on nation delegations and are. gaining privileged access to Member State-only sessions, where. delicate conversations unfold behind closed doors, CIEL's worldwide. petrochemical project planner Delphine Levi Alvares said.

A number of lobbyists are attached to delegations from Malaysia,. Thailand, and Iran, to name a few.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), a market group. which represents more than 190 companies, has the largest number. of registered lobbyists, the analysis discovered.

The ACC did not immediately respond to a request for. remark.