“Financing Toolbox” for a Legally Binding Global Plastics Treaty

In the fall of 2022, negotiations on the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty began. As the negotiations progress, technical and political discussions on financing are becoming increasingly important and often increasingly contentious. Delegates from different countries have repeatedly emphasized that they have different views on possible financing solutions. In the past, negotiations on other multilateral environmental agreements have shown that debates over "who pays" and "who gets what" can, if not derail, then severely disrupt entire negotiation processes. Negotiations on financing are often particularly difficult since they can become highly technical, require complex decisions on a combination of appropriate financing options and are characterized by highly politicized debates on estimated needs or calculated figures.

Against this background, adelphi elaborated in this project a financing toolbox on behalf of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The toolbox provides an unbiased and comprehensible overview of the different financing options that were discussed in and around the negotiations of the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty. The toolbox seeks to inform negotiators so that they can develop and agree on a best-possible outcome for the effective and efficient mobilization, provision, access and use of financial flows from all sources for the implementation of with the future treaty. To this end, the toolbox first of all gives an overview of financing needs and sources and outlines a comprehensive approach to financing. It then delves into the individual financing options that were discussed in the negotiations, namely official development assistance, the treaty’s financial mechanism, private financing, the global plastic pollution fee, extended producer responsibility schemes, and taxes, levies and subsidies. The actual toolbox was distributed to all negotiators at the fourth session of negotiations of the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty in Ottawa, Canada, in April 2024.