Countries are under pressure to make progress on a first-ever global plastics treaty this week, but they face tense negotiations in the Canadian capital with parties deeply divided over what the treaty should include as talks begin on Tuesday.

If governments can agree on a legally binding treaty that addresses not just how plastics are discarded, but also how much plastic is produced and how it is used, the treaty could become the most significant pact to address global climate-warming emissions since the 2015 Paris Agreement.

The production of plastics accounts for some 5% of climate emissions and could grow to 20% by 2050 unless limited, according to a report last week from the US federal Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

When countries agreed in 2022 to negotiate a legally binding treaty by the end of this year, they called for addressing the full lifecycle of plastics - from production and use to waste.

But as negotiations kick off in Ottawa, there is staunch opposition from the petrochemical lobby and some governments dependent on fossil fuels to limiting production or banning certain chemicals.

Thousands of delegates, including negotiators, lobbyists and non-profit observers, are expected at the Ottawa summit, the fourth negotiating round ahead of a final agreement due in December - making this one of the fastest U.N.-led treaty efforts to date.

They will be greeted by protesters staging a "die-in" - laying down and pretending they are dead - on Tuesday morning across from the negotiations' venue.

"This process is without doubt an accelerated and ambitious one, because we don't have decades to act," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme.

DEEP DIVISIONS

The chair of the Ottawa negotiations told Reuters he planned to split national delegates into seven working groups this week to work on unresolved issues, including what the treaty should include and how it should be implemented.

"Time is not our best ally," said summit chair Luis Vayas Valdivieso, who is also Ecuador's vice minister of foreign affairs. "We need to start negotiating on opening day."

During the last treaty talks in November in Nairobi, there was strong support from 130 governments for requiring companies to disclose how much plastic they produce, and which chemicals they use in the process.

With plastics production on track to triple by 2060, supporters say such disclosures are a basic first step in controlling harmful plastic waste – the vast majority of which ends up as trash marring landscapes, clogging waterways or in landfill - and harming public health.

Almost a fifth of the world's plastic waste is burned, which releases high amounts of carbon emissions. Less than 10% of it is recycled, according to UN data.

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