The United States acknowledges the significant progress toward forging a new global agreement on plastic pollution made at the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-5) on plastic pollution, held in Busan, the Republic of Korea, November 25 to December 1, 2024.
The U.S. delegation worked collaboratively with multiple governments and stakeholders toward common ground and country-specific flexibility that would maintain a high level of ambition. While we were disappointed we were unable to reach an agreement, our team leaves this negotiation proud of the ambitious, full-lifecycle approach we brought to Busan—and is resolved to make more progress in the next stages of this negotiation. Robust continued dialogue will be essential for future negotiations to succeed; no one government, organization, or person can tackle this problem alone.