Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4)
The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), is scheduled to take place from 23 to 29 April 2024 at the Shaw Center in Ottawa, Canada. The session will be preceded by regional consultations on 21 April 2024.
The advance copy of the Revised draft text of the international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (UNEP/PP/INC.4/3), prepared by the INC Secretariat, is now available here. The final document will be made available in all six UN languages on the INC-4 website six weeks before the meeting.
About INC
Intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.
In February 2022, at the resumed fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2), a historic resolution (5/14) was adopted to develop a legally binding instrument on plastic pollution with the ambition to complete the negotiations by end of 2024.
The instrument is to be based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the full life cycle of plastic. The INC will consider how to promote sustainable production and consumption of plastics from product design to environmentally sound waste management through resource efficiency and circular economy approaches.
The rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious global environmental issue that negatively impacts the environmental, social, economic and health dimensions of sustainable development. Under a business-as-usual scenario and in the absence of necessary interventions, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems could nearly triple from some 9–14 million tonnes per year in 2016 to a projected 23–37 million tons per year by 2040.