The Ministerial Conference took place on 1-2 September 2021 and was conceived as a platform for informal consultations in the lead-up to the in-person portion of the 5^th meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 5.2), building on mandates from the 3^rd and 4^th sessions of UNEA (UNEA 3/7 and 4/6) related to tackling marine litter and microplastics.

More than 1000 representatives from 140 countries, including representatives from the European Commission, and numerous non-governmental organisations took part in this hybrid meeting.

The primary purpose of the conference was to keep the issue of plastic pollution high on the political agenda. Delegates presented their efforts to combat marine litter and plastic pollution and discussed a Ministerial Statement, drawn up by the co-conveners, which includes coordinated actions to address the negative impacts of plastic throughout its life cycle and calls on UNEA to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) for a new global agreement on plastics at UNEA 5.2 in Nairobi, next 28 February – 2 March 2022. To date, the EU and 72 countries, including 27 EU Member States, have endorsed the Ministerial Statement of the Conference. The statement is available in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic.

The conference concluded with the presentation by Rwanda and Peru of a Draft resolution on plastic pollution for UNEA-5.2, including the establishment of the INC and a mandate to negotiate a legally binding global agreement to address plastic pollution. The stated objective is to reduce the discharge of plastics into the environment by covering all stages of the plastic life cycle and by adopting a circular economy approach to plastics. Japan announced they were considering tabling a resolution of their own in Nairobi which would be less specific than the one supported by the EU and create avenues for lowering the overall ambition of the agreement.

You can download the conference report and check available documents on the event’s website:

• Report of the Ministerial Conference
• Draft resolution on plastic pollution for UNEA-5.2
• Documents