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Effective progress and implementation of the INC-5 plastics treaty through scientific guidance

Nature Sustainability volume 8, pages 728–730 (2025)Cite this article

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The fifth negotiation round for a legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution concluded without an agreed text and will resume at INC-5.2 in August 2025. Scientific evidence and inputs remain vital in informing the final stage of negotiations and ensuring the final treaty is robust and effective.

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Fig. 1: SPI for the global plastics agreement.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA, USA

    Margaret Spring

  2. The Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London, UK

    Patrick Schröder

  3. International Science Council, Paris, France

    Anda Popovici

  4. UCC School of Law, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Noreen O’Meara

  5. Department of Physical, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Ilaria Corsi

  6. CNR Institute of Marine Sciences, Lerici, Italy

    Stefano Aliani

  7. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Moka, Mauritius

    Kishore Boodhoo

  8. University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Judith Gobin

  9. Sustainability Research Centre, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile, Chile

    Alex Godoy-Faúndez

  10. Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology at the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Tallinn, Estonia

    Anne Kahru

  11. pi-Conjugated Polymers Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan

    Christine Luscombe

  12. Department of Environmental & Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Sarva Mangala Praveena

  13. Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria

    Adetoun Mustapha Olaitan

  14. State Key Laboratory for Ecological Security of Regions and Cities, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China

    Peng Wang

  15. Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

    Ramia Al Bakain

  16. Department of Maritime Studies, University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece

    Fani Sakellariadou

Authors
  1. Margaret Spring
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  2. Patrick Schröder
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  6. Stefano Aliani
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  7. Kishore Boodhoo
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  8. Judith Gobin
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  9. Alex Godoy-Faúndez
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  10. Anne Kahru
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  11. Christine Luscombe
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  12. Sarva Mangala Praveena
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  13. Adetoun Mustapha Olaitan
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  14. Peng Wang
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  15. Ramia Al Bakain
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  16. Fani Sakellariadou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Schröder.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Sustainability thanks Sylvia Lorek and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Spring, M., Schröder, P., Popovici, A. et al. Effective progress and implementation of the INC-5 plastics treaty through scientific guidance. Nat Sustain 8, 728–730 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01574-0

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