Update on Verra’s Continued Engagement in Global Plastic Treaty Negotiations 

Verra staff recently attended the third session of the Global Plastic Treaty’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) in Nairobi, Kenya, as accredited observers of the continued discussions around developing an international legally binding instrument to curb plastic pollution, including in the marine environment.

The treaty’s associated financial mechanisms, which remain to be decided, are paramount to guaranteeing that all member states have the means and resources to achieve its ambitious objectives. To that end, Verra offered the following recommendations and commentary to treaty negotiators:

• Plastic Credits could be recognized as an innovative financial mechanism to mobilize private sector capital for third-party audited plastic waste collection or recycling activities, either directly or through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.
• Plastic Credits could integrate with multilateral and other funds to enable investment in projects that are third-party audited to the Plastic Program requirements. Fund managers can use the Plastic Standard requirements to select the projects they invest in. This standardizes the due diligence process and makes it easy for them to invest in impactful projects.
• The Plastic Standard and its supporting methodologies can be used as an existing framework for monitoring and verifying the impact of these activities.

During INC-3, Verra held a side event, “Financing Plastic Waste Reduction in Lesser Developed Countries through Plastic Credits.” It explored the specific challenges that low- and middle-income economies face in financing the basic plastic waste management infrastructure needed to address the high rate of plastic leakage. Komal Sinha, Director, Plastics and Sustainable Development Policy and Markets, and Kristen Linscott, Senior Program Officer, Plastics Policy and Markets, explained how Plastic Credits can help drive finance to projects delivering impact on the ground, especially in regions that need it most.

Representatives from two of Verra’s plastic projects joined the side event to share how the program is enabling them to address plastic pollution in their local communities.

Verra staff came away from INC-3 encouraged by the various solutions under consideration during the negotiations, including upstream, midstream, and downstream measures that will be required to tackle plastic pollution across the full life cycle.

The Verra team looks forward to continued participation as an observer in these processes. In April 2024, Verra will attend the fourth session of the negotiations (INC-4) in Ottawa, Canada.