CLIMA Lunch Seminar with Tara Olsen

Plastics not so fantastic? A new legally binding instrument to combat plastic pollution

Abstract

In 2022, the United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA) adopted resolution 5/14, giving mandate to UN Member States to start negotiations toward an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. This seminar delves into the negotiation process and provides insights on the current state of affairs as we digest the last two years of negotiations following the ‘final’ round of negotiations in Busan (South Korea) in November 2024. This includes giving insights on the (potentially) new legal obligations laid out in this treaty, the role of science in policy-making and how the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC) has been implemented in this new treaty. Throughout the negotiation process, states have proposed a multitude of policies which should be implemented which can be summarized into two main architecture types: Should the plastics treaty have top-down approach, inspired by the Montreal Protocol, or should it have a bottom-up approach, inspired by the Paris Agreement?
The content of the seminar will slightly differ depending on how the final rounds of the negotiations go in November/December – if the treaty is adopted then the seminar will focus on the new obligations laid out in the treaty, however if its not adopted then it will focus on the negotiations process and where we currently stand.

About the speaker

Tara Olsen has an interdisciplinary background, having first studied a bachelor's in politics, psychology, law and economics at the University of Amsterdam, followed by a Joint Nordic Masters in Environmental Law at three Nordic Universities (Uppsala University, University of Eastern Finland and the UiT - Arctic University of Norway). Tara just started her PhD at the University of Copenhagen, in the department of Food and Resource Economics, and her project focuses on analysing policy mixes in hard to abate industries in the Scandinavian countries. Prior to starting her PhD, Tara was a research assistant at Lund University, working on a project which mapped the position of states involved in the Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations. Through this project, she has attended three out of the five negotiation rounds for the Global Plastics Treaty and is a member of the Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty.

For registration please Click here 

Time: 21 March 2025: 12:00 - 13:00

Venue: Room 6B.4.04, and online via zoom (link provided upon registration) at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen.