The Ministry of Environment (Minister Han Wha-jin) announced on October 19 that it would discuss the ‘Direction for Response to the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty’ at the 30th Government Affairs Ministers Meeting chaired by the Prime Minister.

This discussion on response direction was organized in line with the establishment of an international agreement to address the escalating global plastic waste pollution, decided at the 5th UN Environment Assembly held in Nairobi, Kenya last March, and a draft agreement* is scheduled for the second half of next year.

* At the UN Environment Assembly, 170 UN member countries agreed to the draft, and discussions are ongoing through the intergovernmental negotiating committee for a total of five times since November 2022, aiming for the agreement in the second half of 2024.

In this regard, the government plans to discuss the ‘Direction for Response to the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty’ to allow the domestic industry to smoothly respond to international regulations, performing the role of a pivotal country that leads international environmental order, and being the fourth-largest petrochemical producing country* in the world in terms of annual production scale.

* 2021 World Petrochemical Production Information (Source: Korea Petrochemical Industry Association, based on ethylene production capacity): 1st United States (40.5 million tons), 2nd China (39.9 million tons), 3rd Saudi Arabia (17.8 million tons), 4th Republic of Korea (12.7 million tons)

The main contents of this direction for response are based on public-private joint efforts and include △contributing to the establishment and implementation of international agreement, △enhancing agreement response capabilities, and △building a domestic implementation base.

Firstly, the government plans to contribute to the establishment and implementation of international agreement with the basic principle of ‘realizing an agreement for ending plastic pollution.’ To achieve this, cooperation with countries in similar positions to Korea will be strengthened, and technology transfers and policy assessments (consulting) will be provided to developing countries, supporting agreement implementation, and securing overseas export markets based on this.

Secondly, an intergovernmental cooperation system will be established, and a dedicated response team for the agreement will operate within the Ministry of Environment to establish a specialized and constant negotiation response system. In addition, through operating expert forums and industrial consultations, plans are to share agreement trends and continuously communicate.

Lastly, a domestic implementation base for the agreement obligations will be established. For this, plans are to enhance plastic management systems such as expanding the use of recycled materials, strengthening the circular design of products, and expanding recycling. Also, plans include enhancing industry response capabilities through increased investment in excellent SMEs and venture companies in resource circulation and technology development support.

Lim Sang-jun, Vice Minister of Environment, stated, “We will actively participate in the negotiations so that an agreement that suits domestic conditions can be established, contributing to the international community's efforts to prevent plastic pollution. Further,we plan to create an implementation base for the domestic industry to fully respond to the agreement."

Contact: Moon You-sang, Deputy Director

Resource Circulation Policy Division / +82-(0)44-201-7349