Ahead of INC-5, 9 members of Congress and European Parliament urge international leaders to restrict industry influence on negotiations
Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Peter Welch (D-VT), along with U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Member of the European Parliament Paul Canfin, led international lawmakers in a letter calling on world leaders to enact conflict of interest policies and mandate the disclosure of lobbying activity ahead of INC-5. These actions would prevent producers and other industry officials from unduly influencing efforts by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) to combat the scourge of plastic pollution. The fifth session of INC will be held in the Republic of Korea later this month.
The lawmakers’ letter was addressed to U.S. President Joe Biden, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, and INC Executive Secretary Jyoti Mathur-Filipp. The letter was also signed by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Representatives Seth Magaziner (D-RI) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).
“Ahead of INC-5, the UN and Member States must enact conflict of interest policies and mandate the disclosure of lobbying activity by participating representatives of plastic-producing industries, petrochemical companies, and other relevant industrial stakeholders, in order to help ensure that science takes precedence in the agreement,” wrote the lawmakers.
“We urge you to institute new disclosure policies that require corporate and industrial sector representatives to submit an audited corporate political influencing statement disclosing plastics and climate-related lobbying, campaign contributions, and funding of trade associations and organizations active on plastics and climate issues,” added the lawmakers.
“These reforms would bring much-needed transparency to the treaty negotiations and help to ensure that the INC process is a successful effort driven by countries to solve the plastic pollution crisis,” continued the lawmakers.
The crisis of plastic pollution threatens the planet’s most important natural resources and disproportionately harms vulnerable populations. More than 90 percent of plastics are made from virgin fossil fuels, and production is projected to more than triple by 2050. In the United States, less than 3 percent of plastic waste is recycled into a similar quality product and research shows human beings swallow the amount of plastic in the typical credit card every week.
As a co-founder of the Senate Oceans Caucus, Whitehouse plays a key role in crafting bipartisan policies to confront the major challenges of ocean plastic pollution. Whitehouse helped author the bipartisan Save Our Seas and Save Our Seas 2.0 Acts, the most comprehensive marine debris measures ever passed into law.
Today’s letter is Whitehouse’s latest effort to encourage international forums to adopt policies limiting corporate interests from unduly influencing global climate talks. In April, Whitehouse attended INC-4, where he called for safeguards around negotiations to prevent industry obstruction.
Last year, Whitehouse led a group of international lawmakers in an effort to strengthen the rules governing industry participation at the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) climate negotiations. Following Whitehouse’s effort, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change announced that it would require all participants to either disclose their “affiliations” ahead of the conference or publicly refuse to do so—a step toward more corporate transparency.
The text of the letter is below and a PDF is available here.
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