On the road to Busan and a global plastics treaty

I’ve just returned from Climate Week 2024 in New York City, where much of the conversation was about the “Road to Busan.”

That’s not some long-lost buddy picture starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. It’s shorthand for the hard work underway to gain agreement for a global treaty dealing with plastic pollution. That all comes to a head at a U.N. conference beginning in late November in the Korean city of Busan.

Many see Busan as make-or-break – the last chance to hammer out a meaningful agreement – because the complicated process for brokering a treaty is set to conclude there.

Let me be clear: ExxonMobil supports a treaty.

The work we’ve done for the past several years continued this week with constructive conversations with government leaders, United Nations Environment Programme officials, industry, NGOs, consumer groups and others. We listen, take feedback, and encourage consensus based on facts and science rather than politics and posturing.

Heading in the right direction

There’s great momentum, and I believe governments can get an agreement across the finish line in Busan – if they focus on addressing the direct causes of plastic waste that leaks into the environment.

Right now, just 10% of plastic waste gets recycled. The remaining 90% ends up in landfills or, worse, in the environment.

We know it’s possible to flip those numbers. Our industry has the technology to convert hard-to-recycle plastics into new products. Embracing these solutions would get the world closer to a circular economy for plastics.

A lot of pieces need to fall into place in terms of policy and investment to realize that promise. That’s where an internationally binding treaty can offer real benefits – if structured the right way.

A well-structured agreement would promote innovations in product design to improve recyclability, develop and expand access to waste-management infrastructure, and facilitate some movement of plastic waste as feedstock for recycling.

That’s the message I’ve heard from others the past few days in New York.

Preserving the benefits of plastics

While there have been calls for production caps or bans, it’s been reassuring to hear leaders share their belief that such measures could deprive the world – particularly the developing world – of the untold benefits plastics deliver in terms of health, food safety, the environment, the energy transition and more.

It’s also important to remind ourselves that the world is not uniform. Plastic sachets for ketchup in the U.S. may not be considered "essential." However, similar packaging can be critical for hygiene or medicine in Africa. A more effective approach would be a global decision tree framework that enables each country to make the best choices for its people.

Let’s shoot for an agreement in Busan that addresses plastic pollution, rather than vilifying plastics themselves. Because plastics should be viewed as the valuable resource they are – something to be used and recycled or reused for everyone’s benefit.

I believe we can take the Road to Busan together and enable a circular economy for plastics with the potential to eliminate more plastic pollution by 2040.