ThosePlastic Treaty –
The forecourt of the UN covered with black paint by activists
Greenpeace carried out an action this Thursday morning at the entrance to the Palais des Nations. A trail of black paint was poured to denounce the presence of lobbyists on the plastic treaty.
Greenpeace carried out a flash action this Thursday, August 7, before the UN in Geneva.
Laurent Guiraud/Tamedia
- Greenpeace activists have poured black painting in front of the UN in Geneva.
- The organization denounces the growing influence of lobbyists in plastic negotiations.
- Discussions bring together 190 countries to establish a treatise on pollution.
- About 300 points remain to be negotiated before the deadline of August 14.
This Thursday morning, Greenpeace activists arrived in the greatest discretion in front of the portal of the Palais des Nations. They poured a large puddle of black paint there, symbolizing oil, while some of them climbed the portal to hang banners.
The purpose of this operation was to denounce the mass arrival of lobbyists to the negotiations which are held this week in Geneva, where nearly 190 countries are found to hope to ratify a treatise on plastic pollution.
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“The plastic treaty is not for sale”
Greenpeace activists hung large banners on which the slogans “big oil polluting inside” were registered and “plastic treaty not for dirty”, referring to the influence of industrialists on the agreement under negotiation. In their press releasethe organization calls on the United Nations not to give in to pressure from large groups.
“Each negotiation session attracts more oil and gas lobbyists,” says Joëlle Hérin, consumer expert at Greenpeace Switzerland. We call on the UN to exclude them. Governments must not leave a handful of companies in the fossil fuels sector to be over the call of civil society which requires a strong agreement to reduce plastic production. ”
Greenpeace activists have brandished banners denouncing the influence of lobbyists on negotiations on plastic pollution.
Laurent Guiraud/Tamedia
An unexpected agreement
As a reminder, the Inc5.2 negotiations which are held from August 5 to 14, 2025 in Geneva are intended to obtain an international treaty on plastic pollution worldwide. During the last conference in Busan in South Korea in November 2024, governments had failed to agree. Faced with the climate emergency, many organizations, of which Greenpeace believes that an agreement is necessary, and this without folding the spine in front of the industrial lobbies.
Opinions on the probability of obtaining a divergent treaty, even if the complexity of negotiations on a leash some rather pessimistic. With more than 300 points to be settled in a project of treaty by August 14, it is difficult to say if the leaders will leave Geneva empty -handed.
Greenpeace urges managers not to give in to pressure from large industrial groups.
Laurent Guiraud/Tamedia
Organizations at the raised foot
Greenpeace’s action comes the day when the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel) publishes a report on the presence of lobbyists during the last cycle of negotiations 2024 in Busan. According to them, there were more than 220 representatives of the petrochemical industry.
The sky and Greenpeace had also signed a common letter, urging the executive director of the UNEP (UN environment program) and assistant secretary general to exclude lobbyists from fossil energy from negotiations.
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