Vested interests pose threat to chemical waste and plastic pollution initiatives

Negotiators are convening this week in Nairobi for the latest round of talks aimed at creating a new scientific panel to advise the world’s governments on how to tackle chemical waste. But as the talks get underway, concerns have been voiced about potential conflicts of interest that could undermine the panel. The warning comes as efforts to agree a global treaty on plastic pollution appear to have been delayed by vested interests.

The UN wants its new panel on chemical waste and pollution prevention to follow a similar template to the IPCC – the body that provides the world’s most authoritative reports on climate change. It hopes that the body will be ready to launch by the end of 2024, but negotiators still have a lot of work ahead of them on agreeing how the panel will operate.