Minister Guilbeault should address plastic pollution with a robust, legally binding plastics treaty now: Senator Galvez
During Climate Week in New York, the environment and climate change minister should push for concrete results to control and reduce plastic production, writes ISG Senator Rosa Galvez.
Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong’s public art installation ‘The Giant Plastic Trap’ is pictured outside the fourth session of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa on April 23. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
OPINION | BY INDEPENDENT SENATOR ROSA GALVEZ
September 25, 2024
As we approach the last scheduled round of negotiations for the plastics treaty, it has come to my attention that Canada—along with the government of Norway—is convening a Ministerial Consultation to identify points of convergence during the New York Climate Week.
I urgently call upon you, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, to elevate this issue in your public speeches, and to lead this ministerial consultation by calling for the treaty to deliver concrete results by the end of negotiations to control and reduce plastic production.
In the Ministerial Statement of the High Ambition Coalition for INC-4 you reaffirmed your commitment to end plastic pollution by 2040, and in the G7 Ministerial Declaration it clearly stated that “[t]he G7 renews its commitments to end plastic pollution, with the ambition to reduce additional plastic pollution to zero by 2040 and to support the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) to complete its work to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution including in the marine environment by the end of 2024.”
Rosa Galvez is a civil-environmental engineer, and has served as an Independent Senator in Canada for the province of Quebec since 2016. Photograph courtesy of Sen. Galvez’s office
You’ve also mentioned recently that Canada: “will continue our call for strong, ambitious, and effective obligations across the full life cycle of plastics that are commensurate with the scale of the plastic pollution crisis the world is facing.” I expect you to live up to these promises. As we move into the final stages of negotiations, verbal statements and reaffirmations must be met with action.
Plastic production is projected to triple in the coming decades, with more than 1,400 new fossil fuel-dependent sites expected to be built by 2027. If the treaty leaves production unchecked, it will compromise the achievement of global climate goals, as it will consume up to one-third of the remaining carbon budget by 2050. If production is not reduced, it will lock in fossil-fuel extraction and dependency, harming mostly Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities. Plastic production is also injurious to wildlife, land, and marine animals, and humans as “microplastics have been found in the ocean, in animals and plants, in tap water,” and in humans. Moreover, the continued production of plastic perpetuates the detrimental subsidies and financial flows going into this industry.
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We do not need to look far to see the adverse impacts of plastic production—the Aamjiwnaang First Nation has been on the frontlines of the petrochemical buildout for many years. In April 2024, the Nation declared a “state of emergency” due to excessive levels of benzene, a cancer-causing chemical released by a nearby INEOS Styrolution plant. The interim order issued in May of this year—although important—is not a long-term solution, and is insufficient. However, a treaty that prevents the proliferation of plastic production infrastructure and controls, and reduces the manufacture of plastic would serve to provide an enduring resolution at the source of the crisis.
Further, it is uneconomical to leave production unregulated. Jayati Ghosh, one of the most prominent economists of our times, has recently warned: “doubling down on fossil-fuel-based plastic production seems not just reckless but also economically shortsighted.” Still, a recent study by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that even in the face of potential credit downgrades, the world’s largest petrochemical companies “are making major investments that are going in the wrong direction.”
We are challenged by overlapping and interconnected crises: pollution, climate, biodiversity. In fact, global warming is amplifying plastic pollution. Ending plastic pollution by 2040 and stopping expansion of the plastics industry, which starts with reducing plastic production, is critical to addressing the crises we face. I urge you to seize this opportunity to address plastics pollution with a robust treaty that will also serve to address risks associated with these overlapping crises.
Steven Guilbeault.
During Climate Week in New York, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault may face pressure to compromise, but legally-binding controls on plastic production are necessary, writes ISG Senator Rosa Galvez.
I would also point out that toxic substances have been banned in the past because of the damage they cause to people and the environment. Indeed, in 2001 the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants banned DDT for agricultural uses worldwide. A precedent that demonstrates that through collaboration and real action, positive change is possible.
In the upcoming meetings, there will be pressure to bend, compromise, or cut production from the treaty altogether. It may seem appealing to make commitments voluntary or to delay hard decisions until after ratification by leaving just some vague words in the treaty, but these are dangerous gambles with no guarantee of success. Mandatory, legally-binding controls to stop growth, and reduce production must appear in the treaty text now.
Do not compromise Canada’s ambition.
Rosa Galvez is a civil-environmental engineer, and an Independent Senator for the province of Quebec since 2016.