Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations: Success is still possible

Plastic pollution is causing severe problems worldwide. However, negotiations at the United Nations in Geneva last August did not result in the expected global plastics treaty. On 7 February 2026, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) on Plastic Pollution will reconvene in Geneva to elect a new chairperson. In order to secure an agreement, the new chairperson must urgently reform INC procedures, argue Melanie Bergmann (Alfred Wegener Institute), Paul Einhäupl, Linda Del Savio (Research Institute for Sustainability), and Annika Jahnke (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) in a recent Nature Comment.