Nations finished a round of negotiations early Tuesday on a treaty to end plastic pollution and made more progress than they have in three prior meetings.

Consumer packaged goods companies, chemical producers and the oil industry are in the crosshairs of watchdogs in Ottawa.

The presence of fossil fuel lobbyists at critical international negotiations has been an issue in UN’s climate talks as well. At the Cop28 summit last year, a record 2,456 people associated with Big Oil were present, prompting outrage from experts and activists.

For the first time, negotiators from most of the world’s nations are discussing actual text for what is supposed to become a global treaty to end plastic pollution.

Negotiations on Global Treaty , to End Plastic Pollution , Reach Critical Phase . 'The Independent' reports that negotiators from around the world have met to discuss what could become

For the first time, negotiators from most of the world’s nations are discussing the text of what is supposed to become a global treaty to end plastic pollution. Delegates and observers at the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution called it a welcome sign that talk has shifted from ideas to treaty language at this fourth of five scheduled plastics summits.

With the world still divided over how ambitious its first plastics treaty should be, countries are considering launching a series of smaller meetings before a hoped-for agreement in December. Countries still need to decide on whether the treaty should call for reducing the amount of plastics produced.

Negotiations on a future global treaty to tackle soaring plastic pollution wrapped up early on Tuesday without agreement on a proposal to consider sustainable plastic production limits. The talks were supposed to conclude on Monday but continued overnight as countries wrangled over whether the treaty should address how to tackle the overproduction of plastic.

For the first time in the process, negotiators discussed the text of what is supposed to become a global treaty.

Negotiations in Ottawa pitted a “high ambition” bloc of nations against countries seeking a more limited treaty focused on managing plastic waste.

Negotiations on a future global treaty to tackle soaring plastic pollution ran overtime into Tuesday morning amid tense debates over whether the world should seek to limit the amount of plastic being made.