Six months of paralysis in the most ambitious environmental negotiations of the decade ended on February 7, 2026, with a single procedural vote. At INC-5.3, the third part of the fifth session of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on plastic pollution, member states convened at the Geneva International Convention Centre and elected Julio Cordano of Chile as the new chair. Cordano, who serves as Director of Environment, Climate Change and Oceans at Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, replaces Ecuador’s Ambassador Luis Vayas Valdivieso, who formally resigned in October 2025 following widespread criticism over how prior rounds of talks were conducted.
The backstory matters. Negotiations to finalize a legally binding global plastics treaty have stretched across five sessions since the INC process launched in March 2022 at the resumed fifth UN Environment Assembly. Previous rounds in Busan, South Korea (INC-5.1, November–December 2024) and Geneva (INC-5.2, August 2025) collapsed without agreement, largely over a fundamental disagreement: whether the treaty should cap virgin plastic production or focus instead on waste management and recycling downstream. Petrochemical-producing nations resisted production limits, while a coalition of more than 100 countries pushed for binding measures that address the full lifecycle of plastics, from extraction through ocean contamination.
Under Vayas Valdivieso’s watch, advocacy groups including Greenpeace, the Center for International Environmental Law, and Break Free From Plastic accused the process of lacking transparency and “catering to the lowest common denominator,” as Zero Waste Europe put it. His resignation created what civil society organizations described as a leadership vacuum during a pivotal moment.
Cordano struck a markedly different tone upon accepting the position. “Plastic pollution is a planetary problem that affects every country, community and individual,” he said. “I am willing and determined to play a leading role in helping the Committee cross the finish line.” The committee also elected Linroy Christian of Antigua and Barbuda as vice-chair.
For those tracking the ocean health dimensions of this story, the stakes are staggering. An estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, according to UNEP. Microplastics have been found in Arctic sea ice, in the Mariana Trench, and in the tissues of marine organisms from plankton to whales. The IUCN published companion briefs around the INC-5.3 session emphasizing that plastic pollution is one of the fastest-growing drivers of marine biodiversity loss and that any effective treaty must address production, not just cleanup.
No substantive negotiations took place at INC-5.3; the session was purely organizational. Substantive talks are expected to resume later in 2026 at INC-5.4, though dates and a venue have not yet been confirmed. Environmental organizations are cautiously optimistic that Cordano’s leadership could restore momentum, but the structural divides between high-ambition nations and petrochemical interests remain as deep as ever.
As Ambrogio Miserocchi, plastics policy lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, told industry press: “This shouldn’t be interpreted as a restart. What we have now is an opportunity to reflect on what didn’t work, learn from it, and apply those lessons going forward.”
The ocean, of course, cannot wait for diplomats to find consensus. Every year of delay adds another 11 million tons to the ledger.
source : sevenseas media.org
