Diplomats from around the world concluded nine days of talks in Geneva — plus a marathon overnight session that lasted into the early hours of Friday — with no agreement on a global plastics treaty.

During a closing plenary that started on Friday at 6:30 a.m., more than 15 hours after it was originally scheduled to begin, nearly all countries opposed an updated draft of the United Nations treaty that was put forward by the negotiating committee chair, the Ecuadorian diplomat Luis Vayas Valdivieso. Many of their delegates said the text did not reflect their mandate under a U.N. Environment Assembly resolution to “end plastic pollution” by addressing the “full life cycle” of plastics.

“We are truly sad to say that we will not have a treaty to end plastic pollution here in Geneva,” the

See Full Page