“We can’t continue like this. Poor working conditions in the guise of implementing the utopian vision of a circular economy, where 100 percent of plastic waste is recycled and companies can continue to produce,” warns Gisore Nyabuti, the Secretary-General, Kenya Waste Pickers Association.
The Fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC5), tasked with formulating modalities for the gradual end to plastic pollution, ended in utter disappointment after negotiators failed to agree on a landmark treaty.
A critical negotiation to craft the world’s first global plastic treaty is underway in Busan, South Korea. Still, the likelihood of a final agreement to end plastic pollution seems increasingly slim. Delegates attending the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC5.2) conference are deeply divided, prompting discussions about extending the negotiation process.
With two weeks of talks on global climate finance scheduled to end on Friday in Baku, Azerbaijan, many developing countries are left frustrated at what they believed was a lack of progress in the first week. Poorer countries want at least $1tn a year to help them cut greenhouse gas emissions and cope with the impacts of extreme weather.
Policymakers are not holding back their feelings that, more than any other issue, the production
of plastic has divided INC participants. Some argue that no government will attack the profitable
hyper-consumption paradigm fueled by the pivot from petroleum as fuel to petroleum as a
source for raw materials for plastic product manufacturing (plastics is the solid form of
petroleum), and a lot of compromise will have to be made to come out with a treaty.
According to National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Director General Mamo B. Mamo, the Kenyan government is accelerating the development of three key regulations to activate carbon markets. Following the recent Climate Change Act of 2016 amendment, governance measures for both carbon markets and non-markets have been established.
The recent endorsement of global carbon market standards under Article 6.4 during COP29 in Baku marks a significant development in climate finance and carbon emissions trading, especially beneficial for developing countries like Kenya. This standard allows countries to trade carbon emission reductions, aiming to accelerate the implementation of climate action plans through financial support and accessible carbon markets.
A groundbreaking report by Oxfam International, " Carbon Inequality Kills, " shows that the high carbon emissions of the world’s 50 richest people are worsening hunger, poverty, and deaths.